UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORN! 
AT   LOS  ANGELES 


THE  GIFT  OF 

MAY  TREAT  MORRISON 

IN  MEMORY  OF 

ALEXANDER  F  MORRISON 


> 
>      >    ■  »    > 


A   VIEW 


OF    THE 


EVIDENCES  OF  CHRISTIANITY. 


IN  THREE  PARTS. 


BY 

WILLIAM   PALEY,  M.A., 

it 

ARCHDEACON    OF    CARLISLE. 
WITH 

ANNOTATIONS 

By   RICHARD   WHATELY,   D.D., 

ARCHBISHOP    OF    DUBLIN. 


NEW   YORK: 
JAMES   MILLER,   522   BROADWAY. 

MDCCCLXV. 

-  , ,      '       >  '  .      ■ 

... 
.  >  *  j     j  *  >  >  >  j 


A..      ALTORB,     PKINTEH. 


r/7 


CONTENTS. 


PAGE 

Introduction 1 


PREPARATORY  CONSIDERATIONS. 
Of  the  antecedent  credibility  of  miracles 11 


PART  I. 

Of  the  direct  historical  Evidence  of  Christianity,  and  wherein  it  is  distin- 
guished from  the  Evidence  alleged  for  other  Miracles. 

Propositions  stated 37 


PROPOSITION  I. 

That  there  is  satisfactory  evidence,  that  many,  professing  to  be 
original  witnesses  of  the  Christian  miracles,  passed  their  lives 
in  labors,  dangers,  and  sufferings,  voluntarily  undergone  in 
attestation  of  the  accounts  which  they  delivered,  and  solely 
in  consequence  of  their  belief  of  those  accounts ;  and  that 
they  also  submitted,  from  the  same  motives,  to  new  rules  of 
conduct 37 

CHAPTER  I. 

Evidence  of  the  sufferings  of  the  first  propagators  of  Christianity, 

from  the  nature  of  the  case 37 

4Z9747 


1 V  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  II. 

Evidence  of  the  sufferings  of  the  first  propagators  of  Christianity, 

from  'profane  testimony 51 

CHAPTER  III. 

Indirect  evidence  of  the  sufferings  of  the  first  propagators  of 
Christianity,  from  the  Scriptures  and  other  ancient  Christian 
writings 57 

CHAPTER  IV. 
Direct  evidence  of  the  same 63 

CHAPTER  V. 
Observations  upon  the  preceding  evidence 76 

CHAPTER  VI. 

That  the  story,  for   which   the  first  propagators   of  Christianity 

suffered,  was  miraculous 80 

CHAPTER  VII. 

That  it  was,  in  the  main,  the  story  which  we  have  now,  proved  by 

indirect  considerations 84 

CHAPTER  VIII. 

The  same  proved  from  the  authority  of  our  historical  Scriptures.. .      99 

CHAPTER  [X. 

Of    the    authenticity    of    the    historical    Scriptures;    in    Eleven 

Sections 115 

Sect.  I.     Quotations  of  the  historical  Scriptures  by  ancient  Chris- 
tian writers 12\ 


CONTENTS.  V 

Sect.  II.     Of  the  peculiar  respect  with  which  they  Avere  quoted .  .    141 

Sect.  III.     The   Scriptures  were,   in   very   early   times,   collected 

into  a  distinct  volume 144 

Sect.  IV.     And  distinguished  by  appropriate  names  and  titles  of 

respect 147 

Sect.  V.     Were   publicly  read  and   expounded  in    the  religious 

assemblies  of  the  eai-ly  Christians 149 

Sect.  VI.     Commentaries,  &c,  were  anciently  written  upon   the 

Scriptures 152 

Sect.  VII.     They  were  received  by  ancient  Christians  of  different 

sects  and  persuasions 156 

Sect.  VIII.  The  four  Gospels,  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles,  thirteen 
Epistles  of  Paul,  the  First  Epistle  of  John,  and  the  First  of 
Peter,  were  received  without  doubt,  by  those  who  doubted 
concerning  the  other  books  of  our  present  canon 162 

Sect.  IX.  Our  present  Gospels  were  considered  by  the  adversaries 
of  Christianity,  as  containing  the  accounts  upon  which  the 
religion  was  founded 166 

Sect.  X.  Formal  Catalogues  of  authentic  Scriptures  were  pub- 
lished ;  in  all  which  our  present  Gospels  were  included lVl 

Sect.  XL  The  above  propositions  cannot  be  predicated  of  those 
books  which  are  commonly  called  apocryphal  books  of  the 
New  Testament 1 73 


CHAPTER  X. 
recapitulation 177 


V ,  CONTENTS. 

Of  the  direct  historical  Evidence  of  Christianity,  and  wherein  it  is  distin- 
guished from  the  Evidence  alleged  for  other  Miracles. 

PROPOSITION    II. 

CHAPTER  I. 

That  there  is  not  satisfactory  evidence,  that  persons  pretending  to 
be  original  witnesses  of  any  other  similar  miracles,  have  acted 
in  the  same  manner,  in  attestation  of  the  accounts  which  they 
delivered,  and  solely  in  consequence  of  their  belief  of  the  truth 
of  those  accounts 181 

CHAPTER  II. 
Consideration  of  some  specific  instances °i )  ] 


PART  II. 

Of  the  Auxiliary  Evidences  of  Christianity. 

CHAPTER  I. 
Prophecy 208 

CHAPTER  II. 
The  morality  of  the  Gospel 220 

CHAPTER  III. 
The  candor  of  the  writers  of  the  New  Testament 248 

CHAPTER  IV. 
Identity  of  Christ's  character 257 

CHAPTER  V. 
Originality  <>f  < 'luist's  character 266 


CONTENTS.  VII 

CHAPTER  VI. 

Conformity  of  the  facts  occasionally  mentioned  or  referred  to  in 
Scripture,  with  the  state  of  things  in  those  times,  as  repre- 
sented by  foreign  and  independent  accounts 269 

CHAPTEE  VII. 
Undesigned  coincidences 295 

CHAPTER  VIII. 
Of  the  history  of  the  resurrection 298 

CHAPTER  IX. 

Of  the  propagation  of  Christianity 302 

Sect.  II.     Reflections  upon  the  preceding  account 318 

Sect.  III.     Of  the  success  of  Mahometanism 324 


PART  III. 

A  Brief  Consideration  of  some  Popular  Objections. 

CHAPTER  I. 
The  discrepancies  between  the  several  Gospels 336 

CHAPTER  II. 
Erroneous  opinions  imputed  to  the  Apostles 339 

CHAPTER  III. 

The  connection  of  Christianity  with  the  Jeivisk  history 343 

CHAPTER  IV. 
Rejection  of  Christianity 347 


Vlll  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  V. 

That  the  Christian  miracles  are  not  recited,  or  appealed  to,  by 
early  Christian  writers  themselves,  so  fully  or  frequently  as 
might  have  been  expected 359 

CHAPTER  VI. 

Want  of  universality  in  the  knowledge  and  reception  of  Chris- 
tianity, and  of  greater  clearness  in  the  evidence 307 

CHAPTER  VII. 
The  supposed  effects  of  Christianity 375 

CHAPTER  VIII. 
Conclusion 383 


INTRODUCTIOIT. 


IT  —  :iild  be  superfluous  to  expatiate  on  the  excellences  of  a 
":   -     well  known  as  Dr.  Pale;   -  Bat  it 

appeared  to  me  desirable  to  republish  it  with  some  a>I 
order  to  meet  the  new  si    pes  (though  withorr  <ibstantial 

novelty  i  which   op^    -  don   to   t         Jos         has     f  late 
-     med.     As       -    bserved  by  an  able  Write -r  in  the  Cautions 
Ti      -    X  .29  .-Infidelity — or  at  least  that  appr 
Infidelity,  the  absence  oi  a  well-grounded  and  firm  belief — is 
among  the  chief  cause-     f  the        -  -  under  which  we 

.      -    faith    was  xed  upon  thai  darion     : 

•nal  evidence  upon  which  I        stand  his  A]    sties  .it. 

N    proportion  -  taken  to  make  men's  knowledge     : 

that  evidence  keep  pace  wirh  the  ac 
of  other  things:   and  then,  when  d     bts  began 

-  -  ught  si  infirm  belief,  _       :he 

imagination  and  the  feelin_-.  -  asoi 

who  hard.      _     ed  in  anything        .    _       1  in  dreading  to  take 
the  only  saj         urse.     While  -Id  men  t 

Church  on  its  own  word,  and  the  othei  to  trust  1       v         are 
without  one  intelligible         -       for  believ     _     - 

-  it  that  so  many  have  made  np  their  minds 
neither,  and  so  manv  more  are  vainly  si      __      _  to  maintain 
a  firm  - 

•  The-  strength  inc  :'  the  Infidel  is  in  our  w 

folly:   and  it  is  our  a       odless    fears  whid 
midable.      For.   the  truth   is,   that    against    the    su':  -  : 

Christianity  itself,  as  distinguis  sions  oi 

it.  modern  Infidelitv — however  it  mav  boast  of  new  discovei     - 

l 


1*  :  INTRODUCTION. 


•   • 


— has  nothing  more  to  say  than  lias  been  said  and  refuted  a 
thousand  times.  It  may  seem  to  present  a  terrible  form  in  the 
obscurity  which  German  metaphysics  have  thrown  around  it : 
but  upon  a  nearer  view,  the  spectre  will  resolve  itself  into  the 
old  worn-out  clothes  of  Collins,  and  Toland,  and  Chubb,  and 
Hume,  which  are  now  too  soiled  and  threadbare  to  be  exhibited 
openly  in  the  day-light.' 

To  Paley's  Evidences,  and  his  Horce  Paulina,  and  to  the 
little  book  of  Introductory  Lessons  on  Christian  Evidences, 
published  several  years  ago,  no  answer,  as  far  as  I  know  and 
believe,  has  ever  been  brought  forward.  The  opponents  of 
Christianity  always  choose  their  own  position  ;  and  the  posi- 
tion they  choose  is  always  that  of  the  assailant.  They  bring 
forward  objections ;  but  never  attempt  to  defend  themselves 
against  the  objections  to  which  they  are  exposed. 

The  cause  of  this  it  is  easy  to  perceive.  Objections — not 
only  plausible,  but  real,  valid,  and  sometimes  unanswerable 
objections — may  be  brought  against  what  is  nevertheless  true, 
and  capable  of  being  fully  established  by  a  preponderance  of 
probability; — by  showing  that  there  are  more  and  weightier 
objections  on  the  opposite  side.  If,  therefore,  any  one  can  in- 
duce you  to  attend  to  the  objections  on  one  side  only,  wholly 
overlooking  the  (perhaps  weightier)  opposite  ones,  he  may 
easily  gain  an  apparent  triumph.  A  barrister  would  have  an 
easy  task  if  he  were  allowed  to  bring  forward  all  that  could 
be  said  against  the  party  he  was  opposed  to,  and  to  pass  over 
in  silence  all  that  could  be  urged  on  the  other  side,  as  not 
worth  answering. 

And  many  of  the  best-established  and  universally  admitted 
historical  facts  might  in  this  way  be  assailed,  by  showing  that 
they  are  in  many  respects  very  improbable.  The  history,  for 
instance,  of  Napoleon  Bonaparte  has  been  shown  to  contain  a 
mucli  greater  amount  of  gross  and  glaring  improbabilities  than 
any  equal  portion  of  Scripture-history ;  or  perhaps  even  than 
all  the  Scripture-Narratives  together.  And  yet  all  believe  it; 
because  the  improbability  of  its  being  an  entire  fabrication  is 
incalculably  greater. 

And  practically,  all  reasonable  men  proceed  on  the  maxim 
of  an  ancient  Greek  author,  which  is  repeatedly  cited  by  Aris- 


INTRODUCTION.  3 


totle;   that  'it  is  probable  that  many  wwprobable  things  will 
happen.' 

Indeed,  were  it  not  so,  every  intelligent  and  well-informed 
man  would  be  a  prophet.  By  an  extensive  study  of  History, 
and  observation  of  Mankind,  he  would  have  learned  to  judge 
accurately  what  kind  of  events  are  probable.  And  if  nothing 
ever  happened  at  variance  with  probabilities, — if  every  thing  was 
sure  to  turn  out  conformably  to  reasonable  expectations  (which 
is  just  what  is  always  assumed  by  anti-christian  writers),  then 
such  a  person  might  sit  down  and  write  a  prospective  history  of 
the  next  century ;  and  do  this  as  easily  and  as  correctly  as  he 
could  write  a  history  of  the  last  century  :  even  as  astronomers 
can  calculate  forwards  the  eclipses  that  are  to  come,  as  easily 
as  they  can  calculate  backwards  those  that  are  past. 

Let  those  objectors  then,  who  are  merely  objectors,  try  the 
experiment  of  writing  a  conjectural  prophetic  history.  Their 
histories,  I  conceive,  would  be  found  a  good  deal  at  variance 
with  each  other ;  and  all  of  them,  when  the  time  arrived,  at 
variance  with  the  events. 

Of  those  who  profess  Christianity  in  a  certain  '  non-natural 
sense,'  while  disbelieving  what  is  commonly  understood  by  that 
word,  there  are  two  principal  sects,  usually  called  the  Mythic 
and  the  Naturalist ;  both  of  which  arose  in  Germany  (where, 
however,  they  are  now  out  of  fashion),  but  which  are  patronized 
by  some  English  and  American  writers.  The  Mythics  repre- 
sent the  whole  of  the  Scripture  History  as  a  series  of  Parables, 
never  designed  to  be  believed  as  literally  true,  any  more  than 
^Esop's  Fables,  though  intended  (like  them)  to  convey  some 
moral  lessons.  The  Naturalists,  on  the  contrary,  maintain  the 
general  truth  of  the  history,  but  explain  the  miraculous  portions 
of  it  as  natural  events.  A  person,  for  instance,  supposed  to  be 
dead,  but  in  reality  in  a  trance,  happened  to  awake  just  when 
Jesus  approached  :  a  storm  happened  to  abate  at  a  critical  mo- 
ment :  a  fever-patient  recovered  health,  and  a  blind  man,  sight, 
through  the  force  of  enthusiastic  emotion  :  the  five  thousand, 
and  the  four  thousand,  were  fed  with  bread  which  some  of 
their  number  had  brought  with  them  :  Jesus  waded  through  a 
shallow  part  of  the  lake,  and  was  supposed  to  be  walking  on  the 
Mate;- :   Arc. 


4  INTRODUCTION. 

These  systems,  which  are  about  equal  in  point  of  reasonable- 
ness, are  as  much  opposed  to  each  other  as  they  are  to  ordinary 
Christianity.  The  ^Naturalists  point  out  the  absurdity  of  ima- 
gining that  a  party  of  GaliUean  peasants  giving  out  that  they 
were  messengers  from  Heaven,  and  reciting  moral  tales  and 
maxims,  could  have  ever  been  listened  to,  and  could  have  in- 
duced great  multitudes,  both  of  Jews  and  of  Gentiles,  to  con- 
temn what  they  had  been  accustomed  to  hold  most  sacred,  to 
forfeit  what  they  held  most  dear,  and  to  encounter  bitter  perse- 
cution in  their  cause.  And  the  Mythics,  again,  expose  the 
monstrous  absurdity  of  the  explanations  framed  by  their  oppo- 
nents.1 

1  cannot  but  think  there  is  much  truth  in  what  is  said  by 
each  of  these  parties ;  that  is,  that  each  are  fully  borne  out  in 
what  they  say  of  the  opposite. 

There  are  some  persons  however,  who,  from  various  cause-. 
deprecate  the   study  of  ehristian-evidences  altogether,2  or  at 

east  would  confine  it  to  an  exceedingly  small  number  of  learned 

Men  whose  inclinations  and  opportunities  have  led  them  to 
devote  their  lives  to  it.  I  have  heard  even  men  of  good  sense 
in  other  points,  remark  that  to  investigate  all  the  reasons  for 
and  against  the  reception  of  Christianity  would  be  more  than 

he  labor  of  a  whole  life ;  and  that  therefore  all  except  per- 
haps some  five  or  six  out  of  every  million,  had  better  not 
trouble  themselves  at  all  about  the  matter.  It  is  very  strange 
that  it  should  tail  to  occur  to  any  man  of  good  sense,  that 
it  may  he  possible,  and  easy,  and,  in  many  cases,  highly 
desirable,  to  have  sufficient  reasons  for  believing  what  we  do 
believe;  though  these  reasons  may  not  he  the  twentieth  pari 
of  what  might  he  adduced,  if  there  were  any  need  for  it.     Any 

me  of  us,  for  instance,  may  be  fully  convinced,  and  on  wry 
good  grounds,  that  he  was  in  such  and  such  places  yesterday, 
ami    s:iw   such    and    such    persons,  and  said   and  did   so  and    so. 

But  all  the  evidence  that  might  he  collected  of  all  tins — sup- 
•sing,  for  instance,  that  this  was  needful,  with  a  view  to  some 

i  In  the  Annotation  on  Part  2,  cb.  i.  vol.  i  ,  I  have  offered  some  remarks  on  the 
dvantage  afforded  to  the  advocates  of  these  extravagances  by  the  rash  language 
>f  some  enthusiasts. 

2  See  Cautitmx  for  the  Times,  N<>s.  11.  12. 


INTRODUCTION.  5 

trial  that  was  going  on — would  perhaps  fill  a  volume.     Suppose, 
for  example,  you  had  to  repel  some  charge  by  proving  an  alibi  / 
what    a   multitude  of  circumstances,  and   what   a   crowd    of 
witnesses,  you  might  bring  forward  to  prove  that  you  really 
were  in  such  a  place  at  such  a  time  ! 

In  every  case,  except  perhaps  the  one  case  of  religion,  every 
one  would  perceive  the  absurdity  of  refusing  to  attend  to  any 
reasons  at  all,  because  there  might  be  a  multitude  of  other 
reasons  also,  which  we  had  not  the  power,  or  the  leisure  to  in- 
vestigate. And  since  therefore  it  has  pleased  the  All-wise  to 
create  Man  a  rational  animal,  and  there  is  always  some  cause, 
though  often  a  very  absurd  one,  for  any  one's  believing  or  dis- 
believing as  he  does,  and  since  on  all  subjects  men  are  often  led 
to  reject  valuable  truths,  and  to  assent  to  mischievous  false- 
hoods, it  is  surely  an  imj)ortant  part  of  education  that  men 
should  be  trained  in  some  degree  to  weigh  evidence,  and  to  dis- 
tinguish good  reasons  from  sophistry,  in  any  department  of  life, 
and  not  least  in  what  concerns  religion. 

But  when  the  mass  of  the  unlearned  people  (it  has  been 
said)  do  believe  in  a  true  religion,  no  matter  on  what  grounds, 
it  is  better  to  let  them  alone  in  their  uninquiring  faith,  than  to 
agitate  and  unsettle  their  minds  by  telling  them  about  evi- 
dences. They  should  be  kept  in  ignorance,  we  are  told,  that 
the  truth  of  Christianity  was  ever  doubted  by  any  one ;  that  is, 
they  must  be  kept  in  ignorance  not  only  of  the  world  around 
them,  but  of  all  books  of  history,  including  the  Bible.  It  has 
even  been  publicly  maintained  in  a  work  which  was  the  organ 
of  a  powerful  and  numerous  party  in  our  Church,  that  an 
ignorant  rustic  who  believes  Christianity  to  be  true,  merely 
because  he  has  been  told  so  by  those  he  looks  up  to  as  his 
superiors,  has  a  far  better  ground  for  his  belief  than  Paley  or 
Grotius,  or  any  other  such  writer.  JSTow  this  is  the  ground  on 
which  the  ancient  and  the  modern  Pagans,  and  the  Mahometans, 
rest  their  absurd  faith,  and  reject  the  Gospel.  The  evidence 
therefore  which  has  proved  satisfactory  to  the  most  enlightened 
Christians  is,  it  seems,  absolutely  inferior  to  that  which  is  mani- 
festly and  notoriously  good  for  nothing  ! 

Yet  it  is  possible  that  some  of  those  who  speak  thus  may 
really  believe  that  Christianity  itself  can  stand  the  test  of  evi- 


fi  INTRODUCTION. 

dence;  but  they  wish  that  some  other  things  also  should  be 
believed,  which  will  not  stand  that  test.  They  wish  men  to 
give  credit  to  some  mediaeval  legends  of  miracles,  and  unsup- 
ported traditions,  and  new  dogmas  of  human  device  ;  and  they 
would  rather  not  encourage  them  to  cultivate  the  habit  which 
the  Apostle  Peter  recommends,  of  being  'ready  to  give  a 
reason  of  their  hope.'  lie  who  is  trying  to  pass  a  large  amount 
of  coins,  some  good  and  some  counterfeit,  will  be  alarmed  at 
seeing  you  apply  a  chemical  test  to  the  pure  gold,  lest  you 
should  proceed  in  the  same  way  with  the  rest. 

Others,  not  belonging  to  the  party  just  alluded  to,  have 
publicly  and  very  strongly  proclaimed  their  conviction  that  any 
inquiry  into  the  evidences  of  our  religion  is  most  likely  to  lead 
to  infidelity.  'Many  thanks!'  an  infidel  might  reply, 'for 
that  admission  !  I  want  nothing  more.  That  all  inquiry,  while 
it  will  establish  a  belief  in  what  is  true,  will  overthrow  belief  in 
Christianity  or  any  other  imposture,  is  just  what  /think.  iBut 
nothing  coming  from  me  could  have  near  the  force  of  such  an 
admission  from  you? 

One  is  loth  to  attribute  to  writers  who  are  professed  advo- 
cates of  Christianity  an  insincere  profession,  and  a  disguised 
hostility,  and  yet,  supposing  them  sincere,  the  absurdity  of 
their  procedure  seems  almost  incredible.  '  Save  me  from  my 
friends,'  we  may  say, '  and  let  our  enemies  do  their  worst.'  Let 
one  of  these  writers  imagine  himself  tried  in  a  court  of  justice, 
and  his  counsel  pleading  for  him  in  a  similar  manner :  '  Gentle- 
men of  the  jury,  my  client  is  an  innocent  and  a  worthy  man, 
take  my  word  for  it:  but  1  entreat  you  not  to  examine  any 
witnesses,  or  listen  to  any  pleadings;  for  the  more  you  inquire 
into  the  case,  the  more  likely  you  will  be  to  find  him  guilty.' 
Every  one  would  say  that  this  advocate  was  either  a  madman, 
or  else  wilfully  1  ict raying  his  client. 

In  confirmation  of  what  I  have  now  said,  I  subjoin  extracts 
(to  which  many  more  might  have  been  added)  from  writers  of 
different  schools,  to  show  the  coincidences  between  an  avowed 
Atheist  and  professed  favorers  of  Christianity,  of  different 
parties,  and  the  contrast  they  all  present  to  the  New  Testament 
writers. 


INTRODUCTION. 


"S^S        ogd*o        fl^aS       ^V?        o>  .£  J  S  °   o  £       ~   « 


S  £  a,- ">  S     ■£  -£  §  £  "S,    *>  *  *  o     5-§  ji      R  -,  Ts"  o  «S "  -*3  "»*  g  S^ 

CD?\         i— i  *       ra    d    5    ^    ^        ^OOJr-1  _raCS  ^  °  T3    rr    ,      «J    QJ    C  7* 


a;   a> 


~  <~  .2  g  *  ^  "n  ^  ^       S  ?«  x^o  S  ^  cH-  iz*'  o  «  o  s^-c  tj 


~  5^5  §^|  »|-|  1  s-s  s Its  si  g  •  -'i°-2  ifr-a-slis*1! 


*  gj^-S.SS'S  \\~  0S|  >,      ce-3  8,-g  °  bc^-*  g  g  §^ 

p 


3  "  C       cei5-r«x       >"S-*,:a-'°»gfl*H0S 


INTRODUCTION. 


The  charge  of  "timidity'  brought  against  those  who  court 
inquiry,  appeal  to  evidence,  and  defy  refutation,  reminds  one 
of  the  anecdote  told  of  some  North-American  Indians,  who 
on  one  occasion,  when  acting  as  allies  with  our  troops,  were 
attacked  by  an  enemy.  The  Indians,  as  their  custom  is,  fled, 
and  sheltered  themselves  behind  trees,  while  the  English  sol- 
diers stood  firm  under  a  heavy  fire,  and  repulsed  the  assailants. 
They  expected  that  their  Indian  friends  would  have  admired 
their  valor.  But  the  interpretation  these  put  upon  it  was,  that 
the  English  were  too  much  frightened  to  run  away ; — that 
they  were  so  paralyzed  by  terror  as  not  to  have  had  sufficient 
presence  of  mind  to  provide  for  their  safety ! 

There  is  another  class  of  persons  who  take  a  different  view, 
but  I  cannot  think  a  right  one,  of  the  study  of  Christian 
evidences.  They  acknowledge  its  use  and  necessity  ;  but  they 
dislike  and  deplore  that  necessity.  They  view  the  matter 
somewhat  as  any  person  of  humane  disposition  does  the  arming 
and  training  of  soldiers ;  acknowledging,  yet  lamenting,  the 
necessity  of  thus  guarding  against  insurrections  at  home,  or 
attacks  from  foreign  nations;  and  though,  when  forced  into  a 
war,  he  rejoices  in  meeting  with  victory  rather  than  defeat, 
he  would  much  prefer  peaceful  tranquillity.  Even  so,  these 
persons  admit  that  evidences  are  necessary  in  order  to  repel 
unbelief;  but  all  attention  to  the  subject  is  connected  in  their 
minds  with  the  idea  of  doubt  /  which  they  feel  to  be  painful, 
and  dread  as  something  sinful. 

Far  different,  however,  are  men's  feelings  in  reference  to  any 
person  or  thing  that  they  really  do  greatly  value  and  admire, 
when  they  have  a  full  and  firm  conviction.1  No  one  in  ordi- 
nary life  considers  it  disagreeable  to  mark  and  dwell  on  the 
constantly  recurring  proofs  of  the  excellent  and  admirable  quali- 
ties of  some  highly  valued  friend — to  observe  how  his  character 
stands  in  strong  contrast  to  that  of  ordinary  men  ;  and  that 
while  experience  is  constantly  stripping  off  the  fail'  outside  from 
vain  pretenders,  and  detecting  the  wrong  motives  which  adul- 
terate the  seeming  virtue  of  others,  his  sterling  excellence  is 
made  more  and  more  striking  and  conspicuous  vwry  day:  on 
the  contrary,  we  feel  that  this  is  a  delightful  exercise  of  the 
mind,  and  the  more  delightful  the  more  we  are  disposed  to  love 

1  ( buiirm*  for  tht  Time*. 


INTRODUCTION.  9 

and  honor  him.  Yet  all  these  are  proofs, — or  what  might  be 
used  as  proofs,  if  needed, — of  his  really  being  of  such  a  char- 
acter. But  is  the  contemplation  of  such  proofs  connected  in 
our  own  mind  with  the  idea  of  harassing  doubt,  and  anxious 
contest?  Should  it  not  then  be  also  delightful  to  a  sincere 
Christian  to  mark,  in  like  manner,  the  proofs  which,  if  he  look 
for  them,  he  will  continually  find  recurring,  that  the  religion  he 
professes  came  not  from  Man,  but  from  God, — that  the  Great 
Master  whom  he  adores  was  indeed  the  '  way,  the  truth,  and  the 
life,' — that  '  never  man  spake  like  this  man ;' — and  that  the 
Sacred  Writers  who  record  his  teaching  were  not  mad  enthu- 
siasts, or  crafty  deceivers,  but  men  who  spoke  in  sincerity  the 
words  of  truth  and  soberness  which  they  learned  from  Him  ? 
Should  he  not  feel  the  liveliest  pleasure  in  comparing  his  re- 
ligion with  those  false  creeds  which  have  sprung  from  human 
fraud  and  folly,  and  observing  how  striking  is  the  difference  ? 

And  so  also,  in  what  is  called  Natural  Theology — the  proofs 
of  the  wisdom,  goodness,  and  power  of  God — how  delightful  to 
a  pious  mind  is  the  contemplation  of  the  evidence  which  it 
presents !  What  pleasure  to  trace,  as  far  as  we  can,  the 
countless  instances  of  wise  contrivance  which  surround  us  in 
the  objects  of  nature, — the  great  and  the  small — from  the 
fibres  of  an  insect's  wing,  to  the  structure  of  the  most  gigantic 
animals — from  the  minutest  seed  that  vegetates,  to  the  loftiest 
trees  of  the  forest — and  to  mark  everywhere  the  work  of  that 
same  Creator's  hand,  who  has  filled  the  universe  with  the 
monuments  of  his  wisdom  ;  so  that  we  thus  (as  Paley  has  ex- 
pressed it)  make  the  universe  to  become  one  vast  Temple ! 

It  is  not  for  the  refutation  of  objectors  merely,  and  for  the 
conviction  of  doubters,  that  it  is  worth  while  to  study  in  this 
manner,  with  the  aid  of  such  a  guide  as  Paley,  the  two  volumes 
— that  of  Nature  and  that  of  Revelation — which  Providence 
has  opened  before  us,  but  because  it  is  both  profitable  and 
gratifying  to  a  well-constituted  mind  to  trace  in  each  of  them 
the  evident  handwriting  of  Him,  the  Divine  Author  of  both. 

Some  passages  in  several  Works  by  different  Authors,  which 
illustrate  some  of  the  points  treated  of  by  Paley,  I  have  thought 
it  better  to  reprint,  than  merely  to  give  references  to  them, 
which  might  cause  trouble  and  inconvenience  to  the  reader. 


A   VIEW 


OF   THE 


EVIDENCES  OF  CHRISTIANITY. 


PREPARATORY  CONSIDERATIONS. 

I  DEEM  it  unnecessary  to  prove  that  mankind  stood  in  need 
of  a  revelation,  because  I  have  met  with  no  serious  person 
who  thinks  that  even  under  the  christian  revelation  we  have 
too  much  light,  or  any  degree  of  assurance  which  is  superfluous. 
I  desire  moreover  that  in  judging  of  Christianity  it  may  be 
remembered,  that  the  question  lies  between  this  religion  and 
none ;  for,  if  the  christian  religion  be  not  credible,  no  one  v 
with  whom  we  have  to  do,  will  support  the  pretensions  of  any 
other. 

Suppose  then  the  world  we  live  in  to  have  had  a  Creator; 
suppose  it  to  appear  from  the  predominant  aim  and  tendency  of 
the  provisions  and  contrivances  observable  in  the  universe,  that 
the  Deity,  when  He  formed  it,  consulted  for  the  happiness  of 
his  sensitive  creation ;  suppose  the  disposition  which  dictated 
this  council  to  continue  ;  suppose  a  part  of  the  creation  to  have 
received  faculties  from  their  Maker,  by  which  they  are  capable 
of  rendering  a  moral  obedience  to  his  will,  and  of  voluntarily 
pursuing  any  end  for  which  He  has  designed  them ;  suppose 
the  Creator  to  intend  for  these  his  rational  and  accountable 
agents  a  second  state  of  existence,  in  which  their  situation  will 
be  regulated  by  their  behavior  in  the  first  state,  by  which 
supposition  (and  by  no  other)  the  objection  to  the  divine 
government  in  not  putting  a  difference  between  the  good  and 
the  bad,  and  the  inconsistency  of  this  confusion  with  the  care 
and  benevolence  discoverable  in  the  works  of  the  Deity,  is  done 
away  ;  suppose  it  to  be  of  the  utmost  importance  to  the  subjects 


- 


12  Evidences  of  Christianity. 

of  this  dispensation  to  know  what  is  intended  for  them,  that  is, 
suppose  the  knowledge  of  it  to  be  highly  conducive  to  the 
happiness  of  the  species,  a  purpose  which  so  many  provisions 
of  nature  are  calculated  to  promote:  suppose,  nevertheless, 
almost  the  whole  race,  either  by  the  imperfection  of  their 
faculties,  the  misfortune  of  their  situation,  or  by  the  loss  of 
some  prior  revelation,  to  want  this  knowledge,  and  not  to  be 
likely  without  the  aid  of  a  new  revelation  to  attain  it;  under 
these  circumstances  is  it  improbable  that  a  revelation  should  be 
made?  Is  it  incredible  that  God  should  interpose  for  such  a 
purpose?  Suppose  Him  to  design  for  mankind  a  future  state, 
is  it  unlikely  that  He  should  acquaint  them  with  it? 

Now  in  what  way  can  a  revelation  be  made  but  by  miracles? 
In  none  which  we  are  able  to  conceive.  Consequently,  in  what- 
ever degree  it  is  probable,  or  not  very  improbable,  that  a  revela- 
tion should  be  communicated  to  mankind  at  all,  in  the  same 
degree  is  it  probable,  or  not  very  probable,  that  miracles 
should  be  wrought.  Therefore,  when  miracles  are  related  to 
have  been  wrought  in  the  promulgating  of  a  revelation  mani- 
festly wanted,  and,  if  true,  of  inestimable  value,  the  improba- 
bility which  arises  from  the  miraculous  nature  of  the  things 
relate'!,  is  not  greater  than  the  original  improbability  that  such 
a  revelation  should  be  imparted  by  God. 

1  wish  it  however  to  be  correctly  understood,  in  what 
manner,  and  to  what  extent,  this  argument  is  alleged.  We  do 
qo1  assume  the  attributes  of  the  Deity,  or  the  existence  of  a 
future  slate,  in  order  to  prove  the  reality  of  miracles.  That 
reality  always  must  be  proved  by  evidence.  We  assert  only, 
that  in  miracles  adduced  in  support  of  revelation,  there  is  not 
any  such  antecedent  improbability  as  no  testimony  can  sur- 
mount. And  I'm-  the  purpose  of  maintaining  this  assertion,  we 
contend,  that  tin.:  incredibility  of  miracles  related  to  have  been 
wrought  in  attestation  of  a  message  from  God,  conveying  intel- 
ligence of  a  future  state  of  rewards  and  punishments,  and  teach- 
ing mankind  how  to  prepare  themselves  for  that  state,  is  not 
in  itself  greater  than  the  event,  call  it  either  probable  or  impro- 
bable, of  the  two  following  propositions  being  true:  namely, 
first,  thai  a  future  state  of  existence  should  be  destined  by  <  tod 

for  his  Inn  nan  creation  ;   and,  secondly,  that,  being  so  destined, 
lb-  -1 Id   acquaint  them  with  it.      It  is  not  necessary  for  our 


Preparatory  Considerations.  13 

purpose  that  these  propositions  be  capable  of  proof,  or  even 
that,  by  arguments  drawn  from  the  light  of  nature,  they  can  be 
made  out  to  be  probable.  It  is  enough  that  we  are  able  to  say 
concerning  them,  that  they  are  not  so  violently  improbable,  so 
contradictory  to  what  we  already  believe  of  the  divine  power 
and  character,  that  either  the  propositions  themselves,  or  facts 
strictly  connected  with  the  propositions  (and  therefore  no  farther 
improbable  than  they  are  improbable),  ought  to  be  rejected  at 
first  sight,  and.  to  be  rejected  by  whatever  strength  or  compli- 
cation of  evidence  they  be  attested. 

This  is  the  prej  udication  we  would  resist.  For  to  this  length 
does  a  modern  objection  to  miracles  go,  viz.,  that  no  human 
testimony  can  in  any  case  render  them  credible.  I  think  the 
reflection  above  stated,  that,  if  there  be  a  revelation,  there 
must  be  miracles ;  and  that  under  the  circumstances  in  which 
the  human  species  are  placed,  a  revelation  is  not  improbable, 
or  not  improbable  in  any  great  degree,  to  be  a  fair  answer  to 
the  whole  objection. 

But  since  it  is  an  objection  which  stands  in  the  very  thresh- 
old of  our  argument,  and,  if  admitted,  is  a  bar  to  every  proof, 
and  to  all  future  reasoning  upon  the  subject,  it  may  be  neces- 
sary, before  we  proceed  farther,  to  examine  the  principle  upon 
which  it  professes  to  be  founded  ;  which  principle  is  concisely 
this,  that  it  is  contrary  to  experience  that  a  miracle  should  be 
true,  but  not  contrary  to  experience  that  testimony  should  be 
false. 

Now  there  appears  a  small  ambiguity  in  the  term  '  expe- 
rience,' and  in  the  phrases  '  contrary  to  experience,'  or  '  con- 
tradicting experience,'  which  it  may  be  necessary  to  remove  in 
the  first  place.  Strictly  speaking,  the  narrative  of  a  fact  is 
then  only  contrary  to  experience,  when  the  fact  is  related  to 
have  existed  at  a  time  and  place,  at  which  time  and  place  we 
being  present  did  not  perceive  it  to  exist ;  as  if  it  should  be  as- 
serted, that  in  a  particular  room,  and  at  a  particular  hour  of  a 
certain  day,  a  man  was  raised  from  the  dead,  in  which  room, 
and  at  the  time  specified,  we  being  present  and  looking  on 
perceived  no  such  event  to  have  taken  place.  Here  the  asser- 
tion is  contrary  to  experience  properly  so  called  ;  and  this  is  a 
contrariety  which  no  evidence  can  surmount.  It  matters  noth- 
ing-, whether  the  fact  be  of  a  miraculous  nature  or  not     But 


14  Evidences  of  ( 7t  ristianity. 

although  this  be  the  experience,  and  the  contrariety,  which 
Ajchbishop  Tillotson  alleged  in  the  quotation  with  which  Mr. 
Hume  opens  his  essay,  it  is  certainly  not  that  experience,  nor 
that  contrariety,  which  Mr.  Hume  himself  intended  to  object. 
And,  short  of  this,  I  know  no  intelligible  signification  which 
can  be  affixed  to  the  term  'contrary  to  experience,'  but  one, 
viz.,  that  of  not  having  ourselves  experienced  any  thing  similar 
to  the  thing  related,  or,  such  things  not  being  generally  experi- 
enced by  others.  I  say  '  not  generally ;'  for  to  state  concern- 
ing the  fact  in  question,  that  no  such  thing  was  ever  experi- 
enced, or  that  universal  experience  is  against  it,  is  to  assume 
the  subject  of  the  controversy. 

Now  the  improbability  which  arises  from  the  want  (for  this 
properly  is  a  want,  not  a  contradiction)  of  experience^  is  only 
equal  to  the  probability  there  is,  that,  if  the  thing  were  true, 
we  should  experience  things  similar  to  it,  or  that  such  things 
would  be  generally  experienced.  Suppose  it  then  to  be  true 
that  miracles  were  wrought  upon  the  first  promulgation  of 
Christianity,  when  nothing  but  miracles  could  decide  its  autho- 
rity, is  it  certain  that  such  miracles  would  be  repeated  so  often, 
and  in  so  many  places,  as  to  become  objects  of  general  experi- 
ence? Is  it  a  probability  approaching  to  certainty?  Is  it  a 
probability  of  any  great  strength  or  force?  Is  it  such  as  no 
evidence  can  encounter  i  And  yet  this  probability  is  the  exact 
converse^  and  therefore  the  exact  measure  of  the  improbability 
which  arises  from  tin-  want  of  experience,  and  which  Mr. 
Hume  represents  as  Invincible  by  human  testimony. 

It  is  not  like  alleging  a  new  law  of  nature,  or  a  new  experi- 
ment in  natural  philosophy;  because,  when  these  are  related, 
it  i>  expected  that,  under  the  same  circumstances,  the  same 
effeel  will  follow  universally;  and  in  proportion  as  this  expec- 
tation is  justly  entertained,  the  want  of  a  corresponding  expe- 
rience negatives  the  history.  Hut  to  expect  concerning  a 
miracle  that  it  should  succeed  upon  repetition,  is  to  expect  that, 
which  would  make  it  cease  to  lie  a  miracle,  which  is  contrary 
to  its  nature  as  BUch,  ami  would  totally  destroy  the  iise  and 
purpose  for  which  it  was  wrought. 

The  force  of  experience  a-  an  objection  to  miracles  is  founded 
in  tin'  presumption,  either  that  the  course  t>i~  nature  is  inva- 
riable, or  that,  if  it  be  ever  varied,  variations  will  be  frequent 


Preparatory  Considerations.  15 

and  general.  Has  the  necessity  of  this  alternative  been  de- 
monstrated ?  Permit  us  to  call  the  course  of  nature  the  agency 
of  an  intelligent  Being,  and  is  there  any  good  reason  for  judg- 
ing this  state  of  the  case  to  be  probable?  Ought  we  not 
rather  to  expect,  that  such  a  Being,  upon  occasions  of  peculiar 
importance,  may  interrupt  the  order  which  He  had  appointed, 
yet,  that  such  occasions  should  return  seldom  ;  that  these  inter- 
ruptions consequently  should  be  confined  to  the  experience  of 
a  few ;  that  the  want  of  it,  therefore,  in  many,  should  be  matter 
neither  of  surprise  nor  objection? 

But  as  a  continuation  of  the  argument  from  experience  it  is 
said,  that,  when  we  advance  accounts  of  miracles,  we  assign 
effects  without  causes,  or  we  attribute  effects  to  causes  inade- 
quate to  the  purpose,  or  to  causes  of  the  operation  of  which  we 
have  no  experience.  Of  what  causes,  we  may  ask,  and  of 
what  effects  does  the  objection  speak?  If  it  be  answered  that, 
when  we  ascribe  the  cure  of  the  palsy  to  a  touch,  of  blindness 
to  the  anointing  of  the  eyes  with  clay,  or  the  raising  of  the 
dead  to  a  word,  we  lay  ourselves  open  to  this  imputation ;  we 
reply,  that  we  ascribe  no  such  effects  to  such  causes.  We 
perceive  no  virtue  or  energy  in  these  things  more  than  in  other 
things  of  the  same  kind.  They  are  merely  signs  to  connect  the 
miracle  with  its  end.  The  effect  we  ascribe  simply  to  the 
volition  of  the  Deity  ;  of  whose  existence  and  power,  not  to  say 
of  whose  presence  and  agency,  we  have  previous  and  indepen- 
dent proof.  We  have  therefore  all  we  seek  for  in  the  works  of 
rational  agents,  a  sufficient  power  and  an  adequate  motive.  In 
a  word,  once  believe  that  there  is  a  God,  and  miracles  are  not 
incredible. 

Mr.  Hume  states  the  case  of  miracles  to  be  a  contest  of 
opposite  improbabilities,  that  is  to  say,  a  question  whether  it  be 
more  improbable  that  the  miracle  should  be  true,  or  the  testi- 
mony false ;  and  this  I  think  a  fair  account  of  the  controversy. 
But  herein  I  remark  a  want  of  argumentative  justice,  that,  in 
describing  the  improbability  of  miracles,  he  suppresses  all  those 
circumstances  of  extenuation,  which  result  from  our  knowledge 
of  the  existence,  power,  and  disposition  of  the  Deity,  his  concern 
in  the  creation,  the  end  answered  by  the  miracle,  the  impor- 
tance of  that  end,  and  its  subserviency  to  the  plan  pursued  in 
the  work  of  nature.     As  Mr.  Plume  has  represented  the  ques- 


16  Evidences  of  Christianity. 

tion,  miracles  are  alike  incredible  to  him  who  is  previously 
assured  of  the  constant  agency  of  a  Divine  Being,  and  to  him 
who  believes  that  no  such  Being  exists  in  the  universe.  They 
are  equally  incredible,  whether  related  to  have  been  wrought 
upon  occasions  the  most  deserving,  and  for  purposes  the  most 
beneficial,  or  for  no  assignable  end  whatever,  or  for  an  end 
confessedly  trifling  or  pernicious.  This  surely  cannot  be  a 
correct  statement.  In  adjusting  also  the  other  side  of  the 
balance,  the  strength  and  weight  of  testimony,  this  author  has 
provided  an  answer  to  every  possible  accumulation  of  historical 
proof,  by  telling  us,  that  we  are  not  obliged  to  explain  how  the 
story  of  the  evidence  arose.  Now  I  think  that  we  are  obliged ; 
not,  perhaps,  to  show  by  positive  accounts  how  it  did,  but  by  a 
probable  hypothesis  how  it  might  so  happen.  The  existence  of 
the  testimony  is  a  phenomenon.  The  truth  of  the  fact  solves 
the  phenomenon.  If  we  reject  this  solution,  we  ought  to^have 
some  other  to  rest  in  ;  and  none  even  by  our  adversaries  can  be 
admitted,  which  is  not  consistent  with  the  principles  that  regu- 
late human  affairs  and  human  conduct  at  present,  or  which 
makes  men  then  to  have  been  a  different  kind  of  Beings  from 
what  they  are  now. 

But  the  short  consideration  which,  independently  of  every 
other,  convinces  me  that  there  is  no  solid  foundation  in  Mr. 
Hume's  conclusion  is  the  following.  When  a  theorem  is  pro- 
posed to  a  mathematician,  the  first  thing  he  does  with  it  is  to 
try  it  upon  a  simple  case;  and,  if  it  produce  a  false  result,  he  is 
sine  that  there  must  be  some  mistake  in  the  demonstration. 
Now  to  proceed  in  this  way  with  what  may  be  called  Mr. 
Hume's  theorem.  If  twelve  men,  whose  probity  and  good 
sense  I  had  long  known,  should  seriously  and  circumstantially 
relate  to  me  an  account  of  a  miracle  wrought  before  their  eyes, 
and  in  which  it  was  impossible  that  they  should  be  deceived  ;  if 
the  governor  of  the  country,  hearing  a  rumor  of  this  account, 
should  call  these  men  into  his  presence,  and  offer  them  a  short 
proposal,  either  to  confess  the  imposture,  or  submit  to  be  tied 
up  to  a  gibbet ;  if  they  should  refuse  \\\\\\  one  vice  to  acknow- 
ledge  that  there  existed  any  falsehood  or  imposture  in  the  case; 
if  this  threat  were  communicated  to  them  separately,  yet  with 
ii"  different  effect ;  if  it  was  at  last  executed  ;  if  I  myself  saw 
them,  one  after   another,  consenting  to  be    racked,  burnt,  or 


Annotations.  17 

strangled,  rather  than  give  up  the  truth  of  their  account ;  still, 
if  Mr.  Hume's  rule  be  my  guide,  I  am  not  to  believe  them. 
Now,  I  undertake  to  say  that  there  exists  not  a  skeptic  in  the 
world  who  would  not  believe  them  ;  or  who  would  defend  such 
incredulity. 

Instances  of  spurious  miracles  supported  by  strong  apparent 
testimony  undoubtedly  demand  examination.  Mr.  Hume  has 
endeavored  to  fortify  his  argument  by  some  examples  of  this 
kind.  I  hope  in  a  proper  place  to  show  that  none  of  them 
reach  the  strength  or  circumstances  of  the  christian  evidence. 
In  these,  however,  consists  the  weight  of  his  objection.  In  the 
principle  itself  I  am  persuaded  there  is  none. 


ANNOTATIONS. 

i Mankind  stood  in  need  of  a  revelation.'' 

These  words  would  admit  of  being  so  understood  as  to  be 
open  to  the  reply,  '  Why  then  was  it  not  bestowed  on  all 
mankind?'  But  the  Author  shortly  after  explains  his  meaning 
to  be  merely — what  must  surely  be  admitted  as  nothing  unrea- 
sonable— '  only  that  in  miracles  adduced  in  support  of  revela- 
tion, there  is  not  any  such  antecedent  improbability  as  no  testi- 
mony can  surmount.' 

I  have  endeavored  to  show,  in  a  subsequent  part  of  this 
volume,  that  we  have  good  reason  for  regarding  every  individual 
civilized  man — whether  Christian,  Deist,  or  Atheist — as  himself 
a  portion  of  a  standing  monument  of  what  may  be  fairly  called 
a  '  revelation'  to  mankind. 

''In  what  way  can  a  revelation  he  made,  but  by  miracles  V 

It  is  important  to  keep  in  mind  that  a  Miracle  in  the  etymo- 
logical sense — i.  e.  a  mere  wonder — proves  nothing.  It  is  a 
proof,  only  when  it  is  (as  it  is  commonly  called  in  our  Scrip- 
tures) a  Sign.  When  any  one  performs  something  beyond 
human  power,  or  foretells  something  undiscoverable  by  human 
sagacity,  appealing  to  this  as  a  sign  that  he  is  the  bearer  of  a 
divine  message,  it  is  then,  and  then  only,  that  this  becomes 
miraculous  evidence. 

2 


18  Evidences  of  Christianity. 

But  the  practice  which  is  but  too  prevalent  is  much  to  be 
deprecated,  of  applying  the  words  '  miraculous' or  'providen- 
tial' to  any  unusual  occurrence;  as  it'  the  divine  providence  had 
nothing  to  do  with  ordinary  events.  A  great  advantage  is 
given  to  anti-christians  by  this  rash  and  irreverent  language 
coming  from  advocates  who,  professing  pre-eminent  piety,  are  in 
reality  guilty  of  presumptuous  impiety,  in  proclaiming  (vir- 
tually) that  '  thus  saith  the  Lord  ;  when  the  Lord  hath  not 
spoken.' 

A  clergyman  having  pointed  out  (in  conformity  with  our 
Lord's  declaration,  Luke  xiii.)  that  we  are  not  warranted, 
in  the  absence  of  a  distinct  revelation  to  that  effect,  to  speak 
of  the  late  famine  as  a  special  judgment  from  Heaven  on 
the  sufferers,  and  a  sign  of  divine  wrath  against  the  nation 
for  extending  toleration  to  Roman-catholics,  was,  for  this,  de- 
nounced, publicly,  in  print,  by  a  brother  clergyman,  as  denying 
all  revelation  ! 

Well  may  our  religion  say, '  Save  me  from  my  friends,  and  I 
fear  not  my  enemies  !' 

'  The  force  of  Experience,  as  an  objection  to  miracles,  is  founded 
on  the  presumption,  either  that  the  course  of  Nature  is  in- 
variable] &c. 

There  is  a  passage  in  the  Quarterly  Revieio  (Oct.,  1859), 
which  is  so  much  to  the  purpose  that  I  have  taken  the  liberty 
of  extracting  a  portion  of  the  substance  of  it. 

'  It  would  perhaps  have  been  more  clear,  if  the  defenders  of 
the  christian  miracles  had  used  the  expression  of  '  the  now- 
<  .risi'i ikj  course  of  Nature,'  or, '  the  ordinary  course  of  things  as 
now  observed  by  us.'  For,  if  by  '  the  course  of  Nature'  be 
understood,  that  which  is  conformable  to  the  divine  appoint- 
ment, then,  to  speak  of  any  thing  occurring  that  is  preter- 
natural, would  be  a  contradiction. 

'Some  persons  however  who  admit  the  possible,  and  the 
actual  occurrence  of  miracles,  are  accustomed  to  speak  as  if 
they  thought  (though  perhaps  that  is  not  really  their  meaning) 
that  the  '  Courxr  <>f  Xuti/rS  is  something  that  goes  on  of  itself ; 
but  that  God  has  the  power,  which  lie  sometimes  exercises,  of 
interrupting  it ;  even  as  a  man  who  has  constructed  some  such 


Annotations.  Id 

engine  as — for  instance — a  mill,  leaves  it  usually  to  work  of 
itself' (tor  they  forget  that  there  is  an  external  agency  which  keeps 
it  in  motion,  and  of  which  the  millwright  has  availed  himself) 
but  which  he  has  the  power  of  stopping  when  he  sees  cause. 

'  But  any  one  who  believes  in  a  universal  divine  government, 
and  divine  foreknowledge,  must  believe  that  whatever  has  at 
any  time  happened,  must  be  in  accordance  with  a  pre-arranged 
system,  though  it  may  be  a  portion  of  that  system  widely 
different  from  those  other  portions  that  come  under  our  habitual 
experience.  It  will  then  be  a  departure  from  the  ordinary 
course  of  nature  ;  and  there  may  have  been  such  an  arrange- 
ment originally  made  that  such  an  extraordinary  event  shall, 
when  it  occurs,  serve  as  a  sign,  in  attestation  of  the  divine  Will 
in  some  point. 

'  This  may  be  easily  illustrated  even  from  works  of  human 
agency.  Suppose,  for  instance,  a  clock  so  constructed  as  to 
strike  only  at  the  hour  of  noon.  A  child  might  suppose,  from 
an  observation  of  several  hours,  that  it  was  the  nature  of  that 
clock  to  move  silently  ;  and  when  he  heard  it  strike,  he  might 
account  this  a  departure,  from  its  nature  :  though  it  would  be, 
in  fact,  as  much  a  part  of  the  maker's  original  design,  as  any 
of  the  movements ;  his  design  having  been  to  announce  the 
hour  of  noon,  and  no  other. 

'  But  a  similar  misapprehension  of  the  nature  of  the  machine 
would  be  much  more  likely  to  prevail,  if  a  clock  could  be  so 
constructed  as  to  strike  only  at  the  end  of  a  year  /  or  at  the 
end  of  a  century  ;  supposing  the  maker  to  have  kept  his  design 
from  being  generally  known.  If,  at  the  end  of  the  year,  lie 
dispatched,  with  a  message  from  himself,  certain  messengers  to 
whom  he  had  made  known  the  construction  of  the  clock,  and 
whom  he  had  authorized  to  announce  the  striking,  as  an  attes- 
tation of  their  coming  from  him,  this  would  be  a  decisive  proof 
of  the  genuineness  of  their  message. 

'  Now  this  may  serve  as  an  illustration  of  the  view  which  an 
intelligent  believer  may  fairly  take  of  miraculous  evidence : 
namely,  that  the  christian  miracles  are  not — properly  speaking 
— '  violations  of  the  Laws  of  Nature,'  but  departures  from  the 
present  ordinary  course  of  Nature,  in  conformity  with  an 
arrangement  originally  so  made  as  to  let  these  be  signs  evi- 
dencing a  divine  mission. 


20  Evidences  of  Christianity. 

'  And  to  pronounce  boldly  that  no  such  occurrence  ever  did 
or  can  take  place,  on  the  ground  that  it  has  not  come  under 
our  own  experience,  and  that  the  strongest  evidence  for  it  is  to 
be  at  once  rejected  unheard,  is  manifestly  a  most  rash  and 
unphilosophical  procedure.  If  we  could  suppose  a  butterfly, 
which  is  born  in  the  spring,  and  lives  but  two  or  three  months, 
to  be  endowed  with  a  certain  portion  of  rationality  (enough 
perhaps  for  a  German  Rationalist,  or  a  Humite)  he  might  lay 
it  down  as  a  Law  of  Nature,  that  the  trees  should  be  green,  and 
the  fields  enamelled  with  flowers.  And  if  some  animal  of  a 
superior  order  assured  him  that  formerly  the  trees  were  bare  of 
leaves,  and  the  fields  covered  with  snow,  he  might  deride  this 
as  contrary  to  all  Experience,  and  to  all  Analogy,  and  a  physical 
impossibility.  And  in  this  he  would  not  be  more  unphiloso- 
phical than  some  who  are  called  philosophers.' 

In  fact,  there  is  a  strong  proof,  independent  of  the  Scrip- 
ture-narratives, that  something  at  variance  with  our  ordinary 
present  experience  of  the  course  of  Nature  as  now  subsisting 
among  us — namely,  a  direct  communication  to  Man  from  some 
superhuman  Being — did  formerly  take  place.  The  existence  of 
civilized  Man  at  the  present  day,  is  a  standing  monument 
of  it. 

Some  persons  are  accustomed  to  talk  as  if  savages  could,  and 
sometimes  did,  invent  for  themselves,  one  by  one,  all  the  useful 
arts,  and  thus  raise  themselves  to  a  civilized  state,  without  any 
assistance  from  men  already  civilized.  One  may  meet  with 
fine  descriptions — though  altogether  fanciful — of  this  supposed 
progress  of  men  towards  civilization.  One  man,  it  has  been 
supposed,  wishing  to  save  himself  the  trouble  of  roaming 
through  the  woods  in  search  of  wild  fruits  and  roots,  would 
bethink  himself  of  collecting  the  seeds  of  these,  and  cultivating 
them  in  a  spot  of  ground  cleared  and  broken  up  for  the  pur- 
pose. And  finding  that  he  could  thus  raise  more  than  enough 
for  himself,  he  might  agree  with  some  of  his  neighbors  to  let 
them  have  a  part  of  the  produce  in  exchange  for  some  of  the 
game  and  fish  they  mighl  have  taken.  Another  man,  again,  it 
has  been  supposed,  would  endeavor  to  save  himself  the  labor 
and  uncertainty  of  hunting,  by  catching  some  kinds  of  wild 
animals  alive,  and  keeping  them  in  an  inclosure  to  breed,  that 
he  might  have  a  supply  always  at  hand. 


Annotations.  21 

And  again,  another,  it  is  supposed,  might  devote  himself  to 
the  occupation  of  dressing  skins  for  clothing,  or  of  building 
huts,  or  canoes,  or  making  various  kinds  of  tools ;  and  might 
subsist  by  exchanging  these  with  his  neighbors  for  food.  And 
bv  thus  devoting  his  chief  attention  to  some  one  kind  of 
manufacture,  he  would  acquire  increased  skill  in  that,  and 
would  strike  out  useful  new  inventions. 

Thus,  these  supposed  savages  having  gradually  come  to  be 
divided  into  husbandmen,  shepherds,  and  artisans  of  various 
kinds,  would  begin  to  enjoy  the  various  advantages  of  a  division 
of  labor,  and  would  advance,  step  by  step,  in  all  the  arts  of 
civilized  life. 

Now  all  this  description  is  likely  to  appear  plausible  at  the 
first  glance,  to  those  who  do  not  inquire  carefully,  and  reflect 
attentively.  But  on  examination,  it  will  be  found  to  be  con- 
tradicted by  all  history,  and  to  be  quite  inconsistent  with  the 
real  character  of  such  Beings  as  savages  actually  are.  In 
reality,  such  a  process  of  inventions  and  improvements  as  that 
just  described,  is  what  never  did,  and  never  possibly  can,  take 
place  in  any  savage  tribe  left  wholly  to  themselves. 

All  the  nations  of  which  we  know  any  thing,  that  have  risen 
from  a  savage  to  a  civilized  state,  appear  to  have  had  the  ad- 
vantage of  the  instruction  and  example  of  civilized  men  living 
among  them.  Every  nation  that  has  ever  had  any  tradition  of 
a  time  when  their  ancestors  were  savages,  and  of  the  first  in- 
troduction of  civilization  among  them,  always  represent  some 
foreigner,  or  some  Being  from  Heaven,  as  having  first  taught 
them  tire  arts  of  life. 

Thus,  the  ancient  Greeks  attributed  to  Prometheus — a  sup- 
posed superhuman  Being — the  introduction  of  the  use  of  fire. 
And  they  represented  Triptolemus  and  Cadmus,  and  others, 
strangers,  from  a  distant  country,  as  introducing  agriculture 
and  other  arts.  And  the  Peruvians  have  a  like  tradition  con- 
cerning a  person  they  call  Manco-Capac,  whom  they  represent 
as  the  offspring  of  the  sun,  and  as  having  taught  useful  arts  to 
their  ancestors. 

On  the  other  hand,  there  are  great  numbers  of  savage  tribes, 
in  various  parts  of  the  world,  who  have  had  no  regular  inter- 
course with  civilized  men,  but  who  have  been  visited  by  several 
voyagers,  at  different  times,  and,  in  some  instances,  at  very 


22  Evidences  of  Christianity 

distant  periods.  And  it  appears  from  comparing  together  the 
accounts  of  those  voyagers  that  these  tribes  remain  perfectly 
stationary;  not  making  the  smallest  advance  towards  civiliza- 
tion. 

For  example,  the  people  of  the  vast  continent  of  New  Hol- 
land, and  of  the  large  island  of  Papua,  (or  New  Guinea,)  which 
lies  near  it,  who  are  among  the  rudest  of  savages,  appear  to 
remain  (in  those  parts  not  settled  by  Europeans)  in  exactly  the 
same  brutish  condition  as  when  they  were  first  discovered. 
They  roam  about  the  forests  in  search  of  wild  animals,  and  of 
some  few  eatable  roots,  which  they  laboriously  dig  up  with 
sharpened  sticks.  But  though  they  are  often  half  starved,  and 
though  they  have  to  expend  as  much  toil  for  three  or  four 
scanty  meals  of  these  roots  as  would  suffice  for  breaking  up  and 
planting  a  piece  of  ground  that  would  supply  them  for  a  year, 
it  has  never  occurred  to  them  to  attempt  cultivating  those 
roots. 

The  inhabitants,  again,  of  the  islands  of  Andaman,  in  the 
Eastern  Ocean,  appear  to  be  in  a  more  degraded  and  wretched 
state  than  even  the  New-Hollanders. 

The  Xew-Zealanders,  again,  in  the  interval  of  above  125 
years  between  the  first  discovery  of  their  islands  by  Tasmau, 
and  the  second  discovery  by  Captain  Cook,  seem  to  have  made 
no  advances  whatever,  but  to  have  remained  just  in  the  same 
condition.  And  vet  they  were  in  a  far  less  savage  state  than 
that  of  the  New-Hollanders;  being  accustomed  rudely  to  cul- 
tivate tin1  ground,  and  raise  crops  of  sweet-potatoes. 

And  such  appears  to  be,  from  all  accounts,  the  condition  of 
all  savage,  or  nearly  savage  tribes.  They  seem  never  to  invent 
any  tiling,  or  to  make  any  effort  to  improve  ;  so  that  what  few 
arts  they  do  possess,  (and  which,  in  general,  are  only  such  as  to 
enable  them  just  to  support  life,)  must  be  the  remnant  that 
they  have  retained  from  a  more  civilized  state  from  which  their 
ancestors  had  degenerated. 

When,  indeed,  men  have  arrived  at  a  certain  stage  in  the 
advance  towards  civilization,  (far  short  of  what  exists  in 
Europe,)  if  is  then  possible  for  them,  it'  nothing  occurs  to  keep 
them  back,  to  advance  fur  her  and  further  towards  a  more 
civilized  state. 

And  there  is  no  one,  of  the  arts  that  may  not  be  invented  by 


Annotations.  23 

men  whose  minds  have  been  already  cultivated  up  to  a  certain 
point.  Those,  for  example,  who  have  been  accustomed  to  work 
in  one  kind  of  metal,  may  discover  the  use  of  some  other  met- 
al. Those  who  are  accustomed  to  till  the  ground,  and  whose 
faculties  have  received  some  considerable  degree  of  improve- 
ment, may  introduce  the  culture  of  some  new  vegetable.  And 
if  men  have  been  used  to  make  woollen  cloth,  they  may  pro- 
ceed from  that  to  linen  or  cotton  cloth  ;  or,  on  the  other  hand, 
they  may  proceed  from  linen  to  woollen. 

And  this  it  is  that  misleads  some  persons  in  their  notions  re- 
specting savages.  For  finding  that  there  is  no  one  art  which 
might  not  have  been  invented  by  unassisted  Man,  supposing 
him  to  have  a  certain  degree  of  civilization  to  start  from,  they 
hence  conclude  that  unassisted  Man  might  have  invented  all 
the  arts,  supposing  him  left  originally  in  a  completely  savage 
state.  But  this  is  contradicted  by  all  experience  ;  which  shows 
that  men  in  the  condition  of  the  lowest  savages  never  have 
made  the  first  step  towards  civilization,  without  some  assist- 
ance from  without. 

Human  society  may  be  compared  to  some  combustible  sub- 
stances which  will  not  take  fire  spontaneously,  but  when  once 
set  on  fire,  will  burn  with  continually  increasing  force.  A 
community  of  men  requires,  as  it  were,  to  be  kindled,  and  re- 
quires no  more. 

Perhaps,  when  you  try  to  fancy  yourself  in  the  situation  of 
a  savage,  it  occurs  to  you  that  you  would  set  your  mind  to 
work  to  contrive  means  for  bettering  your  condition ;  and  that 
you  might  perhaps  hit  upon  such  and  such  useful  inventions  ; 
and  hence  you  may  be  led  to  think  it  natural  that  savages 
should  do  so,  and  that  some  tribes  of  them  may  have  advanced 
themselves  in  the  way  above  described,  without  any  external 
help.  But  nothing  of  the  kind  appears  to  have  ever  really  oc- 
curred ;  and  what  leads  some  persons  to  fancy  it,  is,  that  they 
themselves  are  not  savages,  but  have  some  degree  of  mental 
cultivation,  and  some  of  the  habits  of  thought  of  civilized 
men ;  and  therefore  they  form  to  themselves  an  incorrect  no- 
tion of  what  a  savage  really  is — just  as  a  person  who  possesses 
eyesight,  cannot  understand  correctly  the  condition  of  one  born 
blind. 

But  those  who  have  seen  a  good  deal  of  real  savages,  have 


24  Eoidences  of  Christicmity. 

observed  that  they  are  not  only  feeble  in  mental  powers,  but 
also  sluggish  in  the  use  of  such  powers  as  they  have,  except 
when  urged  by  pressing  want.  When  not  thus  urged,  they 
pass  their  time  either  in  perfect  inactivity,  or  else  in  dancing, 
in  decorating  their  bodies  with  paint,  or  with  feathers  and 
shells,  or  in  various  childish  sports.  They  are  not  only  bru- 
tishly  stupid,  but  still  more  remarkable  for  childish  thoughtless- 
ness and  improvidence.  So  that  it  never  occurs  to  them  to 
consider  how  they  may  put  themselves  in  a  better  condition  a 
year  or  two  hence. 

Now  such  must  have  been  the  condition  of  all  mankind 
down  to  this  dav,  if  thev  had  all  been,  from  the  first,  left  with- 
out  any  instruction,  and  in  what  is  called  a  state  of  nature — that 
is,  with  the  faculties  Man  is  born  with,  not  at  all  unfolded  or  ex- 
ercised by  education.  For,  from  such  a  state,  unassisted  Man 
cannot,  as  all  experience  shows,  ever  raise  himself.  And  con- 
sequently, in  that  case,  the  whole  world  would  have  been  peo- 
pled with  mere  savages  in  the  very  lowest  state  of  degradation. 

The  very  existence,  therefore,  at  this  day,  of  civilized  men, 
proves  that  there  must  have  been,  at  some  time  or  other,  some 
instruction  given  to  Man  in  the  arts  of  life,  by  some  Being  su- 
perior to  Man.  For  since  the  first  beginnings  of  civilization 
could  not  have  come  from  any  human  instructor,  they  must 
have  come  from  one  «wj?£r-hnman. 

It  has  been  shown,  then,  that  the  whole  world  would  now 
have  been  peopled  with  the  very  lowest  savages,  if  men  had 
never  received  any  instruction,  and  yet  had  been  able  to  subsist 
at  all.  But  it  is  doubtful  whether  even  this  bare  subsistence 
would  have  been  possible.  It  is  more  likely  that  the  first 
generation  would  all  have  perished  for  want  of  those  few  arts 
which  even  savages  possess,  and  which  (as  has  been  above  re- 
marked) were  probably  not  invented  by  savages,  but  are  rem- 
nants  which  they  have  retained  from  a  more  civilized  state. 
The  knowledge,  for  instance,  of  wholesome  and  of  poisonous 
roots  and  fruits,  the  arts  of  making  fish-hooks  and  nets,  bows 
and  arrows,  or  darts,  and  snares  for  wild  animals,  and  of  con- 
Btructing  rude  huts,  and  canoes,  and  some  other  such  simple 
arts,  arc  possessed,  more  or  less,  by  all  savages,  and  are  neces- 
sary to  enable  them  to  support  their  lives.  And  it  is  doubtful 
whether  men   left  completely   in   a  state  of  nature — that  is, 


Annotations.  25 

wholly  untaught — would  not  all  perish  before  they  could  invent 
them  for  themselves. 

For,  we  should  remember  that  Man,  when  left  in  a  state  of 
nature,  untaught,  and  with  his  rational  powers  not  unfolded,  is 
far  less  fitted  for  supporting  and  taking  care  of  himself  than 
the  brutes.  They  are  much  better  provided  both  with  instincts 
and  with  bodily  organs,  for  supplying  their  own  wants.  For 
example,  those  animals  that  have  occasion  to  dig,  either  for 
food,  or  to  make  burrows  for  shelter — such  as  the  swine,  the 
hedgehog,  the  mole,  and  the  rabbit,  have  both  an  instinct  for 
digging,  and  snouts  or  paws  far  better  adapted  for  that  purpose 
than  Man's  hands.  Yet  man  is  enabled  to  turn  up  the  ground 
much  better  than  any  brute ;  but  then  this  is  by  means  of 
spades  and  other  tools,  which  Man  can  be  taught  to  make  and 
use,  though  brutes  cannot.  Again,  birds  and  bees  have  an  in- 
stinct for  building  such  nests  and  habitations  as  answer  their 
purpose  as  well  as  the  most  commodious  beds  and  houses  made 
by  men  ;  but  Man  has  no  instinct  that  teaches  him  how  to 
construct  these.  Brutes,  again,  know  by  instinct  their  proper 
food,  and  avoid  what  is  unwholesome  ;  but  Man  has  no  instinct 
for  distinguishing  the  nightshade-berry1  (with  which  children 
have  often  been  poisoned)  from  wholesome  fruits.  And  quad- 
rupeds swim  by  nature,  because  their  swimming  is  the  same 
motion  by  which  they  advance  when  on  land  ;  but  a  man,  fall- 
ing into  deep  water,  is  drowned,  unless  he  has  learnt  to 
swim. 

It  appears,  then,  very  doubtful  whether  men  left  wholly  un- 
taught, would  be  able  to  subsist  at  all,  even  in  the  state  of  the 
lowest  savages.  But  at  any  rate,  it  is  plain  they  could  never 
have  risen  above  that  state.  And  consequently  the  existence  of 
civilization  at  this  day  is  a  kind  of  monument  attesting  the  fact 
that  some  instruction  from  above  must,  at  some  time  or  other, 
have  been  supplied  to  mankind.  And  the  most  probable  con- 
clusion is,  that  Man  when  first  created,  or  very  shortly  after- 
wards, was  advanced,  by  the  Creator  Himself,  to  a  state  above 
that  of  a  mere  savage. 

These  arguments,   which  have   been  before  the  Public  in 


1  The  berry  of  the  deadly  nightshade  (not  the  woody  nightshade  common  in 
hedges)  looks  like  a  black  cherry,  and  has  a  sweet  taste,  and  no  unpleasant  smell. 


26  Evidences  of  Christianity. 

various  forms  for  thirty  years,  are,  of  course,  so  unacceptable 
to  an ti christian  Writers,  as  to  have  called  forth  the  utmost  in- 
genuity of  several  of  them  in  attempting  a  refutation.  And 
their  attempts  have  been  such  complete  and  palpable  failures, 
that  it  cannot  be  accounted  presumptuous  to  pronounce  that  a 
refutation  is  impossible.1 

To  be  more  and  more  confirmed  in  the  belief  of  some  con- 
clusion, the  more  numerous,  and  the  more  able  are  the  zealous 
opponents  of  it,  when  they  fail  to  produce  any  disproofs  is  so  far 
from  indicating  an  arrogant  disdain  of  them,  that  it  indicates 
the  very  contrary.  For  the  greater  their  number,  and  their 
ingenuity,  the  stronger  is  the  presumption,  that  some  of  them 
would  have  detected  any  flaw,  had  there  been  any,  in  the  argu- 
ments for  the  conclusion  they  reject. 

And  the  establishing  of  this  is  the  most  complete  discom- 
fiture of  the  adversaries  of  our  religion,  because  it  cuts  awav 
the  ground  from  under  their  feet.  For  you  will  hardly  mjpet 
with  any  one  who  admits  that  there  has  been  some  distinct 
Revelation,  properly  so  called,  given  to  Man,  and  yet  denies 
that  that  revelation  is  to  be  found  in  our  Bible.  On  the  con- 
trary, all  who  deny  the  divine  authority  of  the  Bible,  almost 
always  set  out  with  assuming,  or  attempting  to  prove,  the 
abstract  impossibility  of  any  revelation  whatever,  or  any 
miracle  in  the  ordinary  sense  of  these  words;  and  then  it  is 
that  they  proceed  to  muster  their  objections  against  Chris- 
tianity in  particular.  But  we  have  seen  that  we  may  ad- 
vance and  meet  them  at  once  in  the  open  field,  and  overthrow 
them  at  the  first  step,  before  they  approach  our  citadel ;  by 
proving  that  what  they  set  out  with  denying  is  what  must  have 
taken  place,  and  that  they  are,  in  their  own  persons,  a  portion 
of  the  monument  of  its  occurrence.  And  the  establishing  of 
this,  as  it  takes  away  the  very  ground  first  occupied  by  the 
opponents  of  our  Faith,  so  it  is  an  important  preliminary  step 
for  niir  proceeding,  in  the  next  place,  to  the  particular  evidence 
fc  that  faith.  Once  fully  convinced  that  God  must  at  some 
time  or  other  have  made  nhhc  direct  communication  to  Man, 
and  that  even  those  who  dislike  this  conclusion  strive  in  vain  to 


•  Bee  LeduTU  on  Political  Economy,  and  Lecture  On  the  Origin  of  Civilization,  for  a 
fuller  development  of  the  argument. 


Annotations.  27 

escape  it,  we  are  thus  the  better  prepared  for  duly  estimating 
the  proofs  that  the  Gospel  is  in  truth  a  divine  message. 

'  It  is  said  that  when  we  advance  accounts  of  miracles,  we  as- 
sign effects  without  causes., 

The  expression  now  most  commonly  in  use  among  such 
reasoners  as  Paley  is  here  alluding  to,  is,  that  so  and  so  is  a 
'  physical  impossibility  ;'  by  which  they  mean,  it  seems,  that  it 
is  not  of  such  a  character  as  would  never  be  reckoned  miraculous 
by  any  one ;  and  that  therefore  it  is  to  be  at  once  pronounced 
incredible,  by  whatever  proofs  attested ;  which  is  just  saying, 
in  a  slightly  circuitous  way,  that  '  no  miracle  is  credible,  be- 
cause— no  miracle  is  credible!'  For,  much  of  what,  in  the 
present  day,  is  called  '  Science'  and  '  Philosophy,'  consists  in 
merely  begging  the  question. 

But,  in  ordinary  usage,  the  expression  of  '  physically  impos- 
sible' is  applied  to  what  is  beyond  the  human  powers,  and  to 
any  thing  at  variance  with  the  present  course  of  nature.  And 
many  persons — including  some  who  are  far  from  being  either 
ignorant  or  silly — do  commonly  use  this  language,  while  yet 
they  believe  that  '  physical  impossibilities'  (in  the  above  sense) 
have,  under  certain  circumstances,  taken  place,  and  may  again. 
They  believe  that  there  exists  a  Being  of  more  than  human 
power,  to  whom  things  are  possible,  which  are  impossible  to 
Man.  And  they  hold  it  not  incredible  that  what  is  inconsist- 
ent with  that  portion  of  the  course  of  Nature  which  is  now  go- 
ing on  among  us,  may  have  occurred  formerly,  and  may  occur 
hereafter.  For  instance,  while  they  regard  it  as  physically 
impossible  for  men  (and  so,  with  other  animals)  to  come  into 
existence  without  parents,  they  yet  believe  that  there  was  a 
time  when  men  did  not  exist ;  and  that  consequently  the  first 
of  the  race  must  have  so  come  into  existence. 

They  may  perhaps  believe  also  that  though  it  is  not  in  ac- 
cordance with  the  present  course  of  Nature  for  Man  to  receive 
communications  direct  from  Heaven,  or  through  some  super- 
human Being,  this  must  have  taken  place  formerly  ;  since,  ehe, 
all  mankind  would  have  been  savages  at  this  day. 

And  though  accounting  exemption  from  death,  or  restoration 
of  the  dead  to  life,  a  physical  impossibility,  tney  believe  in  an 
Agent  capable  of  conferring  immortality. 


2S  Evidences  of  Christianity. 

By  the  way,  when  it  is  said,  (as  it  has  been,)  that  for 
Man  to  be  exempt  from  death,  appears,  on  reflection,  a  physical 
impossibility,  there  seems  no  good  ground  for  speaking  of  this 
as  a  thing  apparent  'on  reflection ;'  that  expression  usually  re- 
lating to  what  is  learnt,  not  from  direct  observation  and  ex- 
perience, or  from  direct  testimony,  but  from  reasoning  on  col- 
lateral eireunistanccs.  Now  it  is  not  from  any  a  priori  reason- 
ing, but  from  observation  and  testimony  that  we  infer  Man's 
mortality.  If  we  could  imagine  an  intelligent  Being,  of  a  dif- 
ferent nature  from  ours,  to  come  from  some  other  planet,  and 
visit  our  globe,  and  not  only  to  see  human  Beings,  but  to  ac- 
quire some  knowledge  of  the  physiology  of  the  human  frame, 
lie  would  see  no  reason  for  at  once  inferring  the  necessary  mor- 
tality of  Man.  lie  would  see  provision  made  for  a  continual 
decay  indeed,  but  also,  for  a  continual  renovation.  Every  part 
of  the  body,  including  the  most  solid  bones,  is  undergoing  a 
constant  process  both  of  absorption,  and  also,  of  repair ;  the 
material  for  which  is  supplied  by  our  food.  There  is  no  a  pri- 
ori reason  why  these  two  processes  should  not  exactly  balance 
each  other  forever.  That  the  decay  does  always  at  length 
outstrip  the  renovating  process,  so  as  ultimately  to  produce 
dissolution,  is  what  he  might  learn  from  observation  ;  not 
however  without  much  aid  from  testimony.  For  no  one  per- 
son's observation  would  be  sufficient  alone,  to  afford  reason- 
Mr  proof  of  Man's  mortality  as  a  universal  law  of  Nature. 
That  it  is  a  law  of  Nature,  we  learn,  not  from  '  reflection,'  but 
from  our  own  and  others'  experience. 

It  is  worth  remarking,  however,  that  there  is  no  ground  for 
the  supposition  entertained  by  some,  that  Scripture  represents 
Man  to  have  been  originally  of  an  immortal  nature.  Some, 
n-oceeding  on  that  supposition,  and  assuming  that  this  could 
qoI  have  hem  literally  true, -have  thence  inferred  that  this  por- 
tion of  Scripture,  and  an  indefinite  number  of  other  portions 
likewise,  must  he  mythical  legends,  meaning  any  thing  at  all, 
OT  nothing  ;it  nil. 

But  the  contrary  of  tin'  notion  I  am  alluding  to,  is  plainly 
implied  by  what  is  Baid  of  the  'Tree  of  Life,'  as  that  on  which 
depended  Man's  preservation  from  death.  And  there  is  nothing 
antecedently  impossible,  or  improbable,  in  the  supposition  that 
this  fruit  was  endued  with  the  virtue  of  fortifying  the  constitu- 


Annotations.  29 

tion, — by  being  applied  from  time  to  time, — against  the  decays 
of  age  ;  in  the  same  maimer  as  ordinary  food  from  day  to  day 
supports  us  against  death  and  from  famine ;  or  as,  in  some  per- 
sons, the  habitual  use  of  certain  medicines  is  found  to  keep  off 
some  particular  disease.  It  is  not  at  all  incredible,  that  the 
Creator  may  have  bestowed  on  some  fruit  such  a  virtue  ;  which 
is  not,  in  itself,  at  all  more  wonderful  than  that  opium,  for  in- 
stance, should  produce  sleep,  or  strong  liquors  a  temporary 
madness. 

Supposing  then  this  to  have  been  the  true  state  of  the  case, 
our  first  Parents,  though  they  had  eaten  of  the  Tree  of  Life, 
would,  of  course,  when  afterwards  debarred  from  the  use  of  it, 
not  live  forever.  But  it  is  worth  remarking,  that  if  we  were 
to  hazard  a  conjecture  on  the  subject,  we  should  expect  to  find 
that  persons  whose  constitution  had  for  a  time  been  thus  forti- 
fied, though  they  would  at  length  die,  yet  would  live  much 
longer  than  Man's  natural  term  of  years ;  and  that  they  would 
even  be  likely  to  transmit  such  a  constitution  to  their  descend- 
ants as  should  confer  on  these  also  a  great  degree  of  longevity ; 
which  would  only  wear  out  gradually,  in  many  successive  gene- 
rations. 

We  know  indeed  that  no  such  medicine  does  now  exist ;  but 
we  know  this,  only  from  experience.  And  to  maintain  that 
therefore  none  such  ever  did,  or  could  exist,  is  a  mere  assump- 
tion, and  a  very  rash  and  groundless  one. 

'  Once  believe  that  there  is  a  God,  and  miracles  are  not  incredible.'' 

A  remarkable  change  has  taken  place  in  the  antichristian 
world  since  Paley's  time.  In  his  day,  and  long  before,  the  far 
greater  part  of  those  who  denied  the  Gospel,  were  what  are  called 
Deists.  They  professed  belief  in  a  God  in  the  ordinary  accep- 
tance of  the  word — namely,  a  personal  intelligent  agent,  the 
Maker  and  Ruler  of  the  universe.  And  many  of  them  professed 
to  believe  also  in  a  future  state.  Those  again,  who  denied  all 
this,  plainly  professed  themselves  Atheists. 

Now,  however,  and  for  the  last  half-century,  it  is  rare  to 
meet  with  a  Deist  in  the  above  sense.  The  opponents  of 
Christianity  generally  reject  the  belief  of  a  personal  Deity ; 
and  yet  they  do  not  usually  call  themselves  Atheists ;    but 


30  Evidences  of  Christianity. 

apply  the  term  '  God'  to  the  system  of  the  Universe  itself.  And 
the  greater  part  of  them  assume  the  title  of  Christians.  They 
believe  in  Christianity,  all  but  the  history  and  the  doctrines. 
The  history  they  consider  as  partly  true,  but  partly  a  Myth, 
and  partly  an  exaggerated  and  falsified  report ;  and  the  doc- 
trines as  a  mixture  of  truth  with  errors  and  pious  frauds.  Yet 
though  in  reality  much  further  removed  from  Christianity  than 
a  Jew  or  a  Mahometan,  they  are  quite  ready  to  take  that  oath, 
'  on  the  true  faith  of  a  Christian,'  which  many  have  regarded  as 
the  great  bulwark  of  the  christian  character  of  our  Legislature ! 
And  we  should  observe  that,  with  hypocrisy  (against  which,  it 
lias  been  most  truly  remarked,  no  legal  enactments  can  afford 
security)  these  persons  are  not  at  all  chargeable.  They  are  to 
be  censured  indeed  for  an  unwarrantable  use  of  the  terms  they 
employ ; — for  inventing  a  new  language  of  their  own,  and 
calling  it  English.  But  since  they  tell  us  what  it  is  they  do 
mean  by  Christianity,  they  cannot  fairly  be  accused  of  deceit. 

1  am  told  that  the  school  or  sect  to  which  most  of  these 
Writers  belong  is  called  '  Positivity?  and  that  its  doctrine  is 
the  worship  of  Human  Naturae.  If  the  reader  has  no  clear  no- 
tion concerning  this  system,  he  is  probably,  so  far,  on  a  level 
with  its  authors. 

Here  is  a  specimen  (to  which  many  more  might  have  been 
added)  of  the  transcendental  style  in  which  some  of  these  philo- 
sophers seek  to  enlighten  mankind. 

'It  [Religion]  is  a  mountain  air;  it  is  the  embalmer  of  the 
world.  It  is  myrrh,  and  storax,  and  chlorine,  and  rosemary. 
It  makes  the  sky  and  the  hills  sublime ;  and  the  silent  song  of 

the  stars  is  it Always  the  seer  is  the  sayer.     Somehow 

his  dream  is  told,  somehow  he  publishes  it  with  solemn  joy, 
Sometimes  with  pencil  on  canvas,  sometimes  with  chisel  on 
Stoue'    sometimes  in   towers  and  aisles   of  granite,  his  soul's 

worsLip  is  builded Man  is  the  Wonder  Maker.     He  is 

seen  amid  miracles.  The  stationariness  of  religion,  the  assump- 
tion that  the  age  of  inspiration  is  past,  that  the  Bible  is  closed; 
the  fear  of  degrading  the  character  of  Jesus  by  representing 
Him  as  a  Man,  indicate  with  sufficient  clearness,  the  falsehood 
of  our  theology.  It  is  the  office  of  a  true  teacher  to  show  ns 
that  God  is,  not  was — that  He  speaketh,  not  spoke.  The 
true  Christianity — a   faith    like   Christ's   in    the   infinitude  of 


Annotations.  31 

Man — is  lost.  None  believeth  in  the  soul  of  Man,  but  only  in 
some  man  or  person  old  and  departed  !  In  how  many  churches, 
and  by  how  many  prophets,  tell  me,  is  Man  made  sensible  that 
he  is  an  infinite  soul ;  that  the  earth  and  heavens  arc  passing 
into  his  mind ;  and  that  he  is  drinking  forever  the  soul  of  God ! 
The  very  word  Miracle,  as  pronounced  by  christian  churches, 
gives  a  false  impression  ;  it  is  a  monster ;  it  is  not  one  with  the 

blowing  clover  and  the  falling  rain Man's  life  is  a  miracle, 

and  all  that  Man  doth A  true  conversion,  a  true  Christ,  is 

now,  as  always,  to  be  made  by  the  reception  of  beautiful  senti- 
ments. The  gift  of  God  to  the  soul  is  not  a  vaunting,  overpower- 
ing, excluding  sanctity,  but  a  sweet  natural  goodness  like  thine 
and  mine,  and  that  thus  invites  thine  and  mine  to  be,  and  to  grow.' 

'  If  thou  hast  any  tidings,'  says  Falstaff  to  Pistol,  '  prithee 
deliver  them  like  a  man  of  this  world.' 

It  has  been  often  remarked  as  a  curious  phenomenon  in 
human  nature,  that  some  religious  enthusiasts  have  been  men 
of  good  sense  in  all  matters  but  one ;  and  yet  will  say,  and 
write,  and  approve,  the  most  astounding  absurdities  in  what 
relates  to  religion.  But  it  is  equally  true,  and  a  no  less  curious 
fact,  that  some  a?iti-re\ig\ous,  enthusiasts  will  exhibit  equally 
strange  anomalies.  For  example,  an  able  Writer  on  other  sub- 
jects has  argued  that  such  miracles  as  are  ascribed  to  Jesus 
could  not  have  been  wrought  by  him  ;  since,  if  they  had  been, 
the  Jews  could  not  have  avoided  believing  in  Him.  Yet,  al- 
most in  the  same  breath,  he  declares  that  he  himself  would 
not  have  believed  in  Jesus,  even  if  he  had  been  an  eye-witness 
of  those  miracles  I1  But,  apart  from  this  inconsistency,  we  might 
point  out  to  him  that  he  has  before  his  eyes  strong  evidence  of 
the  force  of  Jewish  prejudice.  He  sees  Jews  clinging  to  a 
religion  which  he  believes  to  be  false,  and  to  be  proved  false  in 
a  most  striking  manner — clinging  to  it  for  ages  together  in 


1  Greg's  Creed  of  Christendom,  pp.  204-207.  His  reason  is,  because,  though 
we  cannot  account  for  such  facts  now  by  natural  causes,  science  may  discover  a 
natural  account  for  tbem  hereafter.  It  would  be  shorter  to  say  at  once,  that  we 
cannot  believe  any  fact  of  ancient  history,  because  something  may  be  discovered 
hereafter  to  refute  the  truth  of  it — or  that  we  cannot  believe  any  man  to  be  honest, 
because  he  may  turn  out  a  rogue — or,  indeed,  trust  any  moral  evidence,  because 
all  moral  evidence  leaves  a  possibility  of  the  fact  being  otherwise.  But  see  Lessons 
on  Evidence,  Lesson  v.,  s    2.  p.  32.  10th  edition. 


32  Evidences  of  Christianity. 

spite  of  the  clearest  rational  evidence,  and  even  the  sensible 
proof  afforded  by  the  destruction  of  their  Temple,  and  their  own 
dispersion  over  the  earth.  In  reality,  we  have  no  difficulty  in 
accounting  for  the  rejection  of  Christianity  by  the  majority  of 
the  Jews.  It  is  he  who  should  account  for  its  reception  by  so 
many  of  them.  The  rejection  of  Christianity  by  the  Jews  no 
more  shows  that  Christianity  had  not  good  proof  to  offer,  than 
the  rejection  by  the  same  people  of  pure  deism  or  atheism,  or 
whatever  else  they  dislike,  proves  that  nothing  inconsistent  with 
their  prejudices  can  be  supported  by  clear  and  cogent  reasons. 
The  reception  of  Christianity  by  them  supposes  prejudice  over- 
come by  something y  and  the  question  is,  by  what?  The  rejec- 
tion of  it  implies  nothing  but  the  steady  action  of  a  principle 
known  by  plain  fact  to  exist,  and  known  by  plain  fact  also  to 
be  capable  of  resisting  the  strongest  evidence. 

'  Mr.  Hume  states  the  case  of  miracles  to  he  a  contest  of  opposite 
improbabilities  ; — a  question  whether  it  he  more  improbable 
that  a  miracle  should  he  true,  or  the  testimony  false? 

In  reference  to  Hume's  essay  on  miracles,  it  is  worth  ob- 
serving that  many  persons  have  overlooked  the  circumstance 
that  though  he  doubtless  meant  his  readers  to  accept  his  argu- 
ment as  valid,  he  must  himself  have  perceived  that  it  is,  on  his 
own  principles,  elsewhere  maintained,  utterly  futile,  and  a  mere 
mystification.  For  he  speaks  of  our  'experience  of  the  course 
of  Nature,'  while,  according  to  his  views,  there  is  no  such  thing 
as  'a  course  of  nature;' — at  least,  any  that  can  be  known  by 
us  :  and  we  cannot  have  any  reasonable  belief  of  any  thing,  ex- 
cept what  he  calls  the  ideas  in  our  own  minds  ;  so  that  on  his 
system,  a  miracle  that  is  believed,  has  as  much  reality  as  any 
thing  at  all,  whether  miraculous  or  not,  can  have 

But  a-  f<>r  the  question  what  he  did  really  believe,  probably 
he  would  have  been  as  much  at  a  loss  as  any  one  else  to  an- 
swer it  with  truth.  For  he  seems  to  have  SO  long  indulged  the 
habit  of  writing  (as  the  phrase  is)  'for  effect,'  and  considering 
merely  what  might  be  BO  plausibly  stated  as  to  gain  admiration 
for  ingenuity,  that  he  ultimately  lost  all  thought  of  ever  in- 
quiring seriously  what  is  true,  or  of  really  believing  or  disbe- 
lieving any  thing. 


Annotations.  33 

His  argument  respecting  miracles,  stated  clearly,  and  in 
regular  form,  would  stand  thus : — 

Testimony  is  a  kind  of  evidence  very  likely  to  be  false : 

The  evidence  for  the  christian  miracles  is  testimony: 

Therefore  it  is  likely  to  be  false. 

Now  it  is  plain  that  every  thing  turns  on  the  question  whether 
what  is  meant  be  all  testimony,  or  some.  The  former  in  what 
no  one  in  his  senses  would  maintain.  If  a  man  were  to  carry 
out  this  principle,  and  reject  all  testimony  to  any  thing  that  is 
in  itself  improbable,1  he  would  be  consigned  to  a  madhouse. 
But  if  the  meaning  be  some  testimony,  this  is  true  enough,  but 
involves  a  gross  fallacy :  '  [Some]  testimony  is  likely  to  be 
false ;  and  the  evidence  for  the  christian  miracles  is  [some] 
testimony,'  proves  nothing.2  One  might  as  well  say  '  books 
[viz.  some  books]  consist  of  mere  trash ;  Hume's  Works  are 
books ;  therefore  they  consist  of  mere  trash.' 

Of  course,  if  any  narrative  is  rejected  on  the  ground  of  its 
being  more  improbable — in  Hume's  language,  '  more  miracu- 
lous' 3 — than  the  falsity  of  the  testimony  to  it,  this  is  a  fair  pro- 
cedure. And  whether  this  is  or  is  not  the  case,  is  the  very 
question  on  which,  in  each  instance,  issue  is  to  be  joined. 

It  is  worth  remarking  by  the  way,  that  Hume  has,  in  treating 
of  evidence,  fallen  into  a  blunder  which  most  schoolboys  would 
detect.  He  lays  down  as  a  principle,  that  any  witnesses,  or 
other  evidences,  on  one  side  of  a  question,  are  counterbalanced 
and  neutralized  by  an  equal  number  (supposing  them  individual- 
ly of  equal  weight)  on  the  opposite  side  ;  and  that  the  numerical 
excess  on  the  one  side  is  the  measure  of  the  probability.  Thus, 
if  there  are  ten  witnesses  on  the  one  side,  and  fifteen  on  the 
other,  ten  of  these  are  neutralized  by  the  opposite  ten  ;  and  the 
surplus  of  live  gives  the  amount  of  the  probability.  A  mere  tyro 
in  Arithmetic  could  have  taught  him  that  the  measure  of  the 
probability  is  the  p?'oportion — the  ratio  of  the  two  numbers  to 
each  other.  But  by  his  rule,  if  in  some  case  there  were  two 
witnesses  on  the  one  side,  and    four  on  the  opposite,  and  in 


1  As,  for  instance,  the  existence  and  the  exploits  of  Bonaparte.     See  Historic 
Doubts. 

3  The  fallacy  is  (in  the  language  of  Logicians)  that  of  a  '  Middle-term  undistri- 
buted ;'  or,  as  some  express  it,  '  taken  twice  particularly.' 

a  See  Historic  Doubts,  p.  24,  .and  Hume's  Essays,  8th  and  10th. 

3 


34  Evidences  of  Christianity. 

another  case,  ninety-eight  on  the  one  side,  and  a  hundred  on 
the  other,  these  two  cases  would  be  alike ;  since  in  each  there 
is  an  excess  of  two  on  one  side :  i.  e.,  that  one  to  two  is  the  same 
thing  as  forty-nine  to  fifty. 

'  The  existence  of  the  testimony  is  a  phenomenon.  The  truth  of 
the  fact  solves  the  phenomenon.  If  we  reject  this  solution, 
we  ought  to  have  some  other  to  rest  in? 

To  take  into  account  only  the  improbabilities  on  one  side, 
wholly  disregarding  those  on  the  other,  is  a  procedure  so  grossly 
absurd,  that  though  many  fall  into  it  in  some  particular  cases, 
any  one  who  should  act  thus  throughout,  would  be  at  once  set 
down  as  a  madman.  The  events,  for  instance,  which  have 
occurred  in  Europe  during  the  last  seventy  years,  are,  many  of 
them,  excessively  improbable  ;l  and  a  man  would  be,  on  Hume's 
principle,  bound  to  disbelieve  them,  saying  that  he  is  'iot 
bound  to  explain  how  the  story  arose.'  But  it  is  plain  we  are 
bound  to  point  out  some  way  in  which  false  statements  of  such 
events  might  have  arisen,  or  else  to  admit  them  (as  in  fact  every 
one  does)  to  be  true. 

It  is  wonderful  how  many  persons,  not  wanting  generally  in 
good  sense,  overlook  the  obvious  truth,  that  to  disbelieve  is  to 
believe  /  belief  of  the  falsity  of  any  proposition,  being  a  belief  of 
the  truth  of  its  contradictory.  Excessive  credulity,  and  exces- 
sive incredulity,  though  opposed,  in  reference  to  each  separate 
proposition,  are  the  same  mental  quality.  If  one  juryman  is  so 
strongly  prepossessed  against  a  prisoner,  and  another  in  his 
favor,  that  the  one  is  ready  to  condemn  him,  and  the  other 
to  acquit  him  on  slight  evidence,  or  on  none  at  all,  then  the 
one  is  crerfithnix  as  to  hie  guilt,  and  incredulous  as  to  his 
innocence  ;  and  the  other  is  equally  credulous  and  incredulous 
on  the  opposite  side.  Even  so,  to  <7/VI>elieve  the  superhuman 
origin  of  Christianity,  is  to  believe  its  human  origin:  and 
which  belief  demands  the  more  easy  faith,  is  the  very  point  at 
issue. 

And  it  maybe  added,  that  there  are  many  cases  in  which 
doubt  would  imply  great  credulity.  If,  for  instance,  any  one 
could  be  found  who  doubted  whether  there  are  any  Pyramids  in 


See  Historic  Doubts. 


Annotations.  35 

Egypt,  or  any  such  city  as  Paris,  because  he  had  never  seen 
them,  and  it  is  more  common  for  travellers  to  lie  than  for 
kings  to  build  pyramids,  he  would  be  believing  what  every  one 
would  call  immeasurably  improbable ;  namely,  the  possibility 
of  thousands  of  independent  witnesses  agreeing  in  the  same 
false  story. 

It  has  been  said,  however,  since  the  time  of  Paley,  that 
Hume's  argument  would  have  been  valid,  if,  instead  of  the 
word  '  Experience'  he  had  used  '  Analogy,'  and  that  he  would 
have  been  justified  in  maintaining  that  though  some  things  may 
be  made  credible  which  are  at  variance  with  our  Experience,  no 
testimony  can  establish  any  thing  that  is  at  variance  with 
Analogy. 

Let  us  try.  We  will  take  the  very  instance  which  Hume 
himself  alludes  to ;  the  account  given  of  ice,  to  one  who  had 
always  lived  in  a  hot  climate.  Suppose  some  travellers  de- 
scribing this  to  an  inhabitant  of  the  interior  of  Africa,  and 
urging,  when  he  manifested  incredulity,  that  though  he  had  no 
experience  of  water  becoming  solid,  there  was  something  anal- 
ogous in  wax  and  tallow,  which  are  solid  when  cold,  and 
liquid  when  warm.  He  might  answer,  '  This  I  admit,  and  yet 
I  have  detected  your  falsehood  ;  and  I  will  show  you  how  :  it  is 
a  well-known  Law  of  Nature  that  heat  expands  bodies,  and 
cold  contracts  them :  in  particular  I  have  observed  this  in  the 
very  case  of  water,  which  occupies  more  space  when  warm,  and 
is  more  and  more  condensed  as  it  cools.  If  therefore  it  could, 
by  a  great  degree  of  cold,  be  brought  to  the  state  of  a  solid, 
your  ice,  as  you  call  it,  would  be  greatly  condensed,  and  would 
sink  in  water.  Yet  you  tell  me  that  on  the  contrary  it  floats  / 
which  is  clearly  quite  at  variance  with  analogy.  '  Hast  thou 
appealed  unto  Analogy?     Unto  Analogy  shalt  thou  go  !' 

'  But  again,  you  tell  me  of  a  vast  body  of  water  which  you 
call  Sea,  and  which  you  say  covers  three-fourths  of  the  world. 
And  you  urge  that  though  I  have  never  seen  it,  I  have  seen 
lakes  in  my  own  country,  which  are  something  analogous ;  and 
that  no  one  can  pronounce  how  large  a  lake  may  be.  Yery 
well :  but  then  you  tell  me  that  this  vast  lake  is  brine,  although 
it  is  supplied  from  rivers,  and  rain,  which  are  both  fresh  water. 
This  is  at  variance  not  only  with  my  own  direct  experience,  but 
with  the  analogy  of  all  that  I  have  experienced.    And  moreover, 


36  Evidences  of  Christianity. 

you  tell  me  that  this  salt  water  contains  abundance  offish. 
Now  I  have  even  tried  an  experiment  which  refutes  you.  I 
have  put  fish  of  various  kinds  into  vessels  of  salt  water ;  and  it 
hills  them,  yet  you  tell  me  of  fish  living  and  abounding  in  your 
briny  lake ! 

'  And  again,  you  tell  me  that  some  of  these  fishfiy  in  the  air. 
Perhaps  you  mean  this  statement  for  a  kind  of  Parable,  or 
poetical  Figure,  designed  to  convey  some  moral  lesson.  But 
literally,  it  is  a  manifest  physical  impossibility.  According  to 
all  experience  and  all  analogy,  birds  are  formed  for  flying  in 
air,  and  fish  for  swimming  in  water.  You  tell  me  however  of 
a  bird  which  you  call  Apteryx,  in  a  country  called  New  Zea- 
land, which  has  no  wings  at  all !  I  may  perhaps  believe  that, 
when  I  believe  in  your  flying  fish  ! 

'  You  also  tell  me  that  you  have  found  in  caverns  and  in  rocks, 
the  remains  of  the  animals  that  formerly  inhabited  the  earth  ; 
which,  it  seems,  were  all  of  them  quite  different  from  those  that 
inhabit  it  now.  Fossil  remains,  as  you  call  them,  of  Man,  or 
of  any  of  the  animals,  or  the  plants,  now  existing,  are  never 
found.  Now  if  all  those  ancient  species  of  plants  and  animals 
became  extinct,  and  new  ones,  such  as  we  now  see  around  us, 
were  created,  this  is  quite  at  variance  with  Analogy.  For  we 
see  no  such  new  species  coming  into  existence  now. 

'  But  then  you  tell  me  that  no  plants  or  animals  ever  were 
created  at  all ;  but  that  the  lowest  of  these  gradually  rose,  in 
many  generations,  into  higher  and  higher.  "Worms  and  snails 
ripened  in  the  course  <>f  many  ages,  into  fish,  then  reptiles, 
then  quadrupeds,  apes,  and  lastly  men.  Now  this  is  against  all 
analogy.  Our  people,  and  our  forefathers,  have  always  kept  cattle 
and  poultry,  and  cultivated  corn;  and  they  never  find  that  corn 
becomes  palm-trees,  or  that  slice])  produce  cows  or  dogs,  or  that 
the  apes  in  our  forests  ripen  into  men.  Neither  the  creation 
of  new  Bpecies,  nor  the  change  of  one  species  into  another,  is 
analogous  to  any  thing  we  have  observed.  And  you  yourselves 
have  told  us  that  you  have  found  in  the  ancient  temples  of  a 
country  called  Egypt,  pictures  supposed  to  be  above  three 
thousand  years  old,  of  men  and  various  animals,  such  as  are 
now  found  on  the  earth. 

'All  that  you  have  been  telling  us  therefore  is  at  variance 
with  the  Analogy  to  which  you  yourselves  have  referred  us.' 


PART  I. 


OF  THE  DIEECT  HISTORICAL  EVIDENCE  OF  CHRISTIANITY,  AND 
WHEREIN  IT  IS  DISTINGUISHED  FROM  THE  EVIDENCE  ALLEGED 
FOR  OTHER  MIRACLES. 

f  FHE  two  propositions  which  I  shall  endeavor  to  establish  are 
•  /JL    these : 

I.  That  there  is  satisfactory  evidence  that  many,  profess- 
ing to  be  original  witnesses  of  the  christian  miracles,  passed 
their  lives  in  labors,  dangers,  and  sufferings,  voluntarily  under- 
gone in  attestation  of  the  accounts  which  they  delivered,  and 
solely  in  consequence  of  their  belief  of  those  accounts  ;  and  that 
they  also  submitted,  from  the  same  motives,  to  new  rules  of 
conduct. 

II.  That  there  is  not  satisfactory  evidence  that  persons  pro- 
fessing to  be  original  witnesses  of  other  miracles,  in  their 
nature  as  certain  as  these  are,  have  ever  acted  in  the  same  man- 
ner, in  attestation  of  the  accounts  which  they  delivered,  and 
properly  in  consequence  of  their  belief  of  those  accounts. 

The  first  of  these  propositions,  as  it  forms  the  argument,  will 
stand  at  the  head  of  the  following  nine  chapters. 


CHAPTER  I. 


There  is  satisfactory  evidence  that  many,  professing  to  be 
original  witnesses  of  the  christian  miracles,  passed  their 
lives  in  labors,  dangers,  and  sufferings,  voluntarily  under- 
gone in  attestation  of  the  accounts  which  they  delivered, 
and  solely  in  consequence  of  their  belief  of  those  accounts  ; 
and  that  they  also  submitted,  from  the  same  motives,  to 
new  rules  of  conduct. 

TO  support  this  proposition,  two  points  are  necessary  to  be 
made  out :    first,  that  the  founder  of  the  institution,  his  (jy 
associates  and  immediate  followers,  acted  the  part  which  the 


42974? 


38  Evidences  of  Christianity.  [Part  I. 

proposition  imputes  to  them  :  secondly,  that  they  did  so  in  attes- 
tation of  the  miraculous  history  recorded  in  our  scriptures,  and 
solely  in  consequence  of  their  belief  of  the  truth  of  this  history. 

Before  we  produce  any  particular  testimony  to  the  activity 
and  sufferings  which  compose  the  subject  of  our* first  assertion, 
it  will  be  proper  to  consider  the  degree  of  probability  which  the 
assertion  derives  from  the  nature  of  the  case  /  that  is,  by 
inferences  from  those  parts  of  the  case  which,  in  point  of  fact, 
are  on  all  hands  acknowledged. 

First  then,  the  christian  religion  exists,  and  therefore  by 
some  means  or  other  was  established.  JSTow  it  either  owes  the 
principle  of  its  establishment,  i.  e.  its  first  publication,  to  the 
activity  of  the  person  who  was  the  founder  of  the  institution 
and  of  those  who  were  joined  with  him  in  the  undertaking,  or 
we  are  driven  upon  the  strange  supposition,  that,  although  they 
might  lie  by,  others  would  take  it  up  ;  although  they  were 
quiet  and  silent,  other  persons  busied  themselves  in  the  success 
and  propagation  of  their  story.  This  is  perfectly  incredible. 
To  me  it  appears  little  less  than  certain,  that,  if  the  first 
announcing  of  the  religion  by  the  founder  had  not  been  followed 
up  by  the  zeal  and  industry  of  his  immediate  disciples,  the 
J  attempt  must  have  expired  in  its  birth.  Then  as  to  the  kind 
and  degree  of  exertion  which  was  employed,  and  the  mode  of 
life  to  which  these  persons  submitted,  we  reasonably  suppose  it 
to  be  like  that  which  we  observe  in  all  others  who  voluntarily 
become  missionaries  of  a  new  faith.  Frequent,  earnest,  and 
laborious  preaching,  constantly  conversing  with  religious 
persons  upon  religion,  a  sequestration  from  the  common 
pleasures,  engagements,  and  varieties  of  life,  and  an  addiction 
to  one  serious  object,  compose  the  habits  of  such  men.  I  do 
not  sav  that  this  mode  of  life  is  without  enioyment,  but  I  sav 
that  the  enjoyment  springs  from  sincerity.  With  a  conscious- 
ness at  the  bottom  of  hollowncss  and  falsehood,  the  fatigue  and 
restraint  would  become  insupportable.  I  am  apt  to  believe 
that  very  few  hypocrites  engage  in  these  undertakings;  or, 
however,  persist  in  them  long.  Ordinarily  speaking,  nothing 
can  overcome  the  indolence  of  mankind,  the  love  which  is 
natural  to  mosl  tempers  of  cheerful  society  and  cheerful  scenes, 
or  the  desire,  which  is  common  to  all,  of  personal  ease  and  free- 
dom, but  conviction. 


Chap,  i.]  Probable  Sufferings  of  Christians.  39 

Secondly,  it  is  also  highly  probable,  from  the  nature  of  the 
case,  that  the  propagation  of  the  new  religion  was  attended 
with  difficulty  and  danger.  As  addressed  to  the  Jews,  it  was 
a  system  adverse  not  only  to  their  habitual  opinions,  but  to 
those  opinions  upon  which  their  hopes,  their  partialities,  their 
pride,  their  consolation  was  founded.  This  people,  with  or 
without  reason,  had  worked  themselves  into  a  persuasion,  that 
some  signal  and  greatly  advantageous  change  was  to  be  effect- 
ed in  the  condition  of  their  country,  by  the  agency  of  a  long- 
promised  messenger  from  heaven.1  The  rulers  of  the  Jews, 
their  leading  sect,  their  priesthood,  had  been  the  authors  of  this 
persuasion  to  the  common  people.  So  that  it  was  not  merely 
the  conjecture  of  theoretical  divines,  or  the  secret  expectation 
of  a  few  recluse  devotees,  but  it  was  become  the  popular  hope 
and  passion,  and,  like  all  popular  opinions,  undoubting,  and 
impatient  of  contradiction.  They  clung  to  this  hope  under 
every  misfortune  of  their  country,  and  with  more  tenacity  as 
their  dangers  or  calamities  increased.  To  find  therefore  that 
expectations  so  gratifying  were  to  be  worse  than  disappointed ; 
that  they  were  to  end  in  the  diffusion  of  a  mild  unambitious 
religion,  which,  instead  of  victories  and  triumphs,  instead  of 
exalting  their  nation  and  institution  above  the  rest  of  the 
world,  was  to  advance  those  whom  they  despised  to  an  equality 
with  themselves,  in  those  very  points  of  comparison  in  which 
they  most  valued  their  own  distinction,  could  be  no  very  pleas- 
ing discovery  to  a  Jewish  mind  ;  nor  could  the  messengers  of 
such  intelligence  expect  to  be  well  received  or  easily  credited. 
The  doctrine  was  equally  harsh  and  novel.  The  extending  of 
the  kingdom  of  God  to  those  who  did  not  conform  to  the  law 
of  Moses,  was  a  notion  that  had  never  before  entered  into  the 
thoughts  of  a  Jew. 

The  character  of  the  new  institution  was,  in  other  respects 
also,  ungrateful  to  Jewish  habits  and  principles.  Their  own 
religion  was  in  a  high  degree  technical.  Even  the  enlightened 
Jew  placed  a  great  deal  of  stress  upon  the  ceremonies  of  his 

i  '  Percrebuerat  oriente  toto  vetus  et  constans  opinio,  esse  in  fatis,  ut  eo  tem- 
pore Judcea  profecti  rerum  potirentur.' — Sueton.    Vespasian,  cap.  4-8. 

'  Pluribus  persuasio  inerat,  antiquis  sacerdotum  Uteris  contineri,  eo  ipso  tem- 
pore fore,  ut  valesceret  oriens,  profectique  Juda:a  rerum  potirentur.' — Tacit.  Hist. 
lib.  v.  cap.  9-13. 


40  Evidences  of  Christianity.  [Part  I. 

law,  saw  in  them  a  great  deal  of  virtue  and  efficacy;  the  gross 
and  vulgar  had  scarcely  any  thing  else ;  and  the  hypocritical 
and  ostentatious  magnified  them  above  measure,  as  being  the 
instruments  of  their  own  reputation  and  influence.  The  chris- 
tian scheme,  without  formally  repealing  the  Levitical  code, 
lowered  its  estimation  extremely.  In  the  place  of  strictness 
and  zeal  in  performing  the  observances  which  that  code  pre- 
scribed, or  which  tradition  had  added  to  it,  the  new  sect 
preached  up  faith,  well-regulated  affections,  inward  purity  and 
moral  rectitude  of  disposition,  as  the  true  ground,  on  the  part 
of  the  worshipper,  of  merit  and  acceptance  with  God.  This, 
however  rational  it  may  appear,  or  recommending  to  us  at 
present,  did  not  by  any  means  facilitate  the  plan  then.  On  the 
contrary,  to  disparage  those  qualities  which  the  highest  char- 
acters in  the  country  valued  themselves  most  upon,  was  a  sure 
way  of  making  powerful  enemies.  As  if  the  frustration  of  the 
national  hope  was  not  enough,  the  long-esteemed  merit  m  rit- 
ual zeal  and  punctuality  was  to  be  decried,  and  that  by  Jews 
preaching  to  Jews. 

The  ruling  party  at  Jerusalem  had  just  before  crucified  the 
founder  of  the  religion.  That  is  a  fact  which  wrill  not  be  dis- 
puted. They  therefore  who  stood  forth  to  preach  the  religion, 
must  necessarily  reproach  these  rulers  with  an  execution,  which 
they  could  not  but  represent  as  an  unjust  and  cruel  murder. 
This  would  not  render  their  office  more  easy,  "™  their  situation 
more  safe. 

With  regard  to  the  interference  of  the  Roman  government 
which  was  then  established  in  Judea,  I  should  not  expect,  that, 
despising  as  it  did  the  religion  of  the  country,  it  would,  if  left 
to  itself,  animadvert,  either  with  much  vigilance,  or  much  se- 
verity, upon  the  schisms  and  controversies  which  arose  within 
it.  Yet  there  was  that  in  Christianity  which  might  easily  af- 
ford a  handle  of  accusation  with  a  jealous  government.1  The 
Christians  avowed  an  unqualified  obedience  to  a  new  master. 
They  avowed  also  that  he  was  the  person  who  had  been  fore- 
told to  the  Jews  under  the  suspected  title  of  King.  The  spir- 
itual nature  of  this  kingdom,  the  consistency  of  this  obedience 
with  civil  subjection,  were  distinctions  too  refined  to  be  enter- 
tained by  a  Roman  president,  who  viewed  the  business  at  a  great 

1  See  Acts  xvii.  7. 


Chap,  i.]  Probable  Sufferings  of  Christians.  ±1 

distance,  or  through  the  medium  of  very  hostile  representa- 
tions. Our  histories  accordingly  inform  us,  that  this  was  the 
turn  which  the  enemies  of  Jesus  gave  to  his  character  and  pre- 
tensions in  their  remonstrances  with  Pontius  Pilate.  And 
Justin  Martyr,  about  a  hundred  years  afterwards,  complains 
that  the  same  mistake  prevailed  in  his  time  ;  '  ye  having  heard 
that  we  are  waiting  for  a  kingdom,  suppose,  without  distin- 
guishing, that  we  mean  a  human  kingdom,  when  in  truth  we 
speak  of  that  which  is  with  God.'1  And  it  was  undoubtedly  a 
natural  source  of  calumny  and  misconstruction. 

The  preachers  therefore  of  Christianity  had  to  contend  with 
prejudice  backed  by  power.  They  had  to  come  forward  to  a 
disappointed  people,  to  a  priesthood  possessing  a  considerable  ' 
share  of  municipal  authority,  and  actuated  by  strong  motives  of 
opposition  and  resentment ;  and  they  had  to  do  this  under  a 
foreign  government,  to  wdiose  favor  they  made  no  pretensions,  t 
and  which  was  constantly  surrounded  by  their  enemies.  The 
well-known,  because  the  experienced  fate  of  reformers,  when- 
ever the  reformation  subverts  some  reigning  opinion,  and  does 
not  proceed  upon  a  change  already  taken  place  in  the  senti- 
ments of  a  country,  will  not  allow,  much  less  lead  us,  to  sup- 
pose, that  the  first  propagators  of  Christianity  at  Jerusalem  and 
in  Judea,  with  the  difficulties  and  the  enemies  which  they  had 
to  contend  with,  and  entirely  destitute,  as  they  were,  of  force, 
authority,  or  protection,  could  execute  their  mission  with  per- 
sonal ease  and  safet}\  . 

Let  us  next  inquire  what  might  reasonably  be  expected  by 
the  preachers  of  Christianity  when  they  turned  themselves  to 
the  heathen  Public.  Now  the  first  thing  that  strikes  us  is, 
that  the  religion  they  carried  with  them  was  exclusive.  It 
denied  without  reserve  the  truth  of  every  article  of  heathen 
mythology,  the  existence  of  every  object  of  their  worship.  It 
accepted  no  compromise  :  it  admitted  no  comprehension.  It  \J 
must  prevail,  if  it  prevailed  at  all,  by  the  overthrow  of  every 
statue,  altar,  and  temple  in  the  world.  It  will  not  easily  be 
credited  that  a  design,  so  bold  as  this  was,  could  in  any  age  be 
attempted  to  be  carried  into  execution  with  impunity. 

For,   it   ought  to  be  considered,  that   this  was  not  setting 
forth,  or  magnifying  the  character  and  worship  of  some  new 


1  Ap.  lme-  p.  16,  el.  Thirl. 


42  Evidences  of  Christianity.  [Part  I. 

competitor  for  a  place  in  the  Pantheon,  whose  pretensions 
might  be  discussed  or  asserted  without  questioning  the  reality 
of  any  others.  It  was  pronouncing  all  other  gods  to  be  false, 
and  all  other  worship  vain.  Prom  the  facility  with  which  the 
Polytheism  of  ancient  nations  admitted  new  objects  of  worship 
into  the  number  of  their  acknowledged  divinities,  or  the  patience 
with  which  they  might  entertain  proposals  of  this  kind,  we  can 
argue  nothing  as  to  their  toleration  of  a  system,  or  of  the  pub- 
lishers and  active  propagators  of  a  system,  which  swept  away 
the  very  foundation  of  the  existing  establishment.  The  one 
was  nothing  more  than  what  it  would  be,  in  Popish  countries, 
to  add  a  saint  to  the  calendar  ;  the  other  was  to  abolish  and 
tread  under  foot  the  calendar  itself. 

Secondly,  it  ought  also  to  be  considered,  that  this  was  not 
the  case  of  philosophers  propounding  in  their  books,  or  in  their 
schools,  doubts  concerning  the  truth  of  the  popular  creed*  or 
even  avowing  their  disbelief  of  it.  These  philosophers  did  not 
go  about  from  place  to  place  to  collect  proselytes  from  amongst 
the  common  people  ;  to  form  in  the  heart  of  the  country  socie- 
ties professing  their  tenets  ;  to  provide  for  the  order,  instruc- 
tion, and  permanency  of  these  societies  ;  nor  did  they  enjoin 
their  followers  to  withdraw  themselves  from  the  public  worship 
of  the  temples,  or  refuse  a  compliance  with  rites  instituted  by 
the  laws.1  These  things  are  what  the  Christians  did,  and  what 
the  Philosophers  did  not:  and  in  these  consisted  the  activity 
and  danger  of  the  enterprise. 

Thirdly,  it  ought  also  to  be  considered,  that  this  danger 
proceeded  not  merely  from  solemn  acts  and  public  resolutions 
of  the  State,  but  from  sudden  bursts  of  violence  at  particular 
places,  from  the  license  of  the  populace,  the  rashness  of  some 
magistrates  and  the  negligence  of  others ;  from  the  influence 
and  instigation  of  interested  adversaries,  and,  in  general,  from 
the  variety  and  warmth  of  opinion  which  an  errand  so  novel 
and  extraordinary  could  not  fail  of  exciting.  I  can  conceive 
that  the  teachers  of  Christianity  might  both  fear  and  suffer 

1  The  best  of  the  ancient  philosophers,  Plato,  Cicero,  and  Epictetus,  allowed, 
or  rather  enjoined,  nun  to  worship  tin'  gods  of  the  country,  and  in  the  establish- 
ed form.  Bee  passages  to  this  purpose,  collected  from  their  works  by  Dr.  Clarke, 
Nat.  and  Rev  /.'</.  p.  180,  ed.  v.  Except  Socrates,  they  all  thought  it  wiser  to 
comply  with  the  iaws  than  to  contend. 


Chap,  i.]  Probable  Sufferings  of  Christians.  i3 

much  from  these  causes,  without  any  general  persecution  being 
denounced  against  them  by  imperial  authority.  Some  length 
of  time,  I  should  suppose,  might  pass,  before  the  vast  machine 
of  the  Roman  empire  would  be  put  in  motion,  or  its  attention 
be  obtained  to  religious  controversy :  but,  during  that  time,  a 
great  deal  of  ill-usage  might  be  endured,  by  a  set  of  friendless, 
unprotected  travellers,  telling  men,  wherever  they  came,  that 
the  religion  of  their  ancestors,  the  religion  in  which  they  had 
been  brought  up,  the  religion  of  the  State  and  of  the  magis- 
trate, the  rites  which  they  frequented,  the  pomp  which  they 
admired,  was  throughout  a  system  of  folly  and  delusion. 

Nor  do  I  think  that  the  teachers  of  Christianity  would  find 
protection  in  that  general  disbelief  of  the  popular  theology,  which 
is  supposed  to  have  prevailed  amongst  the  intelligent  part  of  the 
heathen  Public.  It  is  by  no  means  true  that  unbelievers  are 
usually  tolerant.  They  are  not  disposed  (and  why  should  they  ?) 
to  endanger  the  present  state  of  things,  by  suffering  a  religion 
of  which  they  believe  nothing,  to  be  disturbed  by  another  of 
which  they  believe  as  little.  They  are  ready  themselves  to 
conform  to  anything;  and  are,  oftentimes,  amongst  the  fore- 
most to  procure  conformity  from  others,  by  any  method  which 
they  think  likely  to  be  efficacious.  When  was  ever  a  change 
of  religion  patronized  by  infidels  ?  How  little,  notwithstand- 
ing the  reigning  skepticism,  and  the  magnified  liberality  of  that 
age,  the  true  principles  of  toleration  were  understood  by  the 
wisest  men  amongst  them,  may  be  gathered  from  two  eminent 
and  uncontested  examples.  The  younger  Pliny,  polished,  as 
he  was,  by  all  the  literature  of  that  soft,  and  elegant  period, 
could  gravely  pronounce  this  monstrous  judgment :  '  those  who 
persisted  in  declaring  themselves  Christians,  I  ordered  to  be  led 
away  to  punishment  (i.  e.  to  execution),  for  I  did  not  doubt, 
whatever  it  was  that  they  confessed,  that  contumacy  and  inflexible 
obstinacy  ought  to  be  punished?  His  master,  Trajan,  a  mild 
and  accomplished  prince,  went,  nevertheless,  no  farther  in  his 
sentiments  of  moderation  and  equity,  than  what  appears  in  the 
following  rescript :  '  That  Christians  are  not  to  be  sought  for  ; 
but  if  any  are  brought  before  you,  and  convicted,  they  are  to 
be  punished.'  And  this  direction  he  gives,  after  it  had  been 
reported  to  him  by  his  own  president,  that,  by  the  most  strict, 
examination,  nothing  could  be  discovered  in  the  principles  of 


44  Evidences  of  Christianity.  [Parti. 

these  persons,  but  '  a  bad  and  excessive  superstition,  accom- 
panied, ir  seems,  with  an  oath  of  mutual  federation,  to  'allow 
themselves  in  no  crime  or  immoral  conduct  whatever.'     The 
truth  is,  the  ancient  heathens  considered  religion  entirely  as  an 
affair  of  State,  as  much  under  the  tuition  of  the  magistrate  as 
any  other  part  of  the  police.     The  religion  of  that  age  was  not 
merely  allied  to  the  State  ;  it  was  incorporated  into  it.     Many 
of  its  offices  were  administered  by  the  magistrate.     Its  titles  of 
pontiffs,  augurs,  and  flamens,  were  borne  by  senators,  consuls, 
and  generals.     Without  discussing  therefore  the  truth  of  the 
theology,  they  resented  every  affront  put  upon  the  established 
worship  as  a  direct  opposition  to  the  authority  of  government. 
Add  to  which,  that  the  religious  systems  of  those  times, 
however  ill  supported  by  evidence,  had  been  long  established. 
The  ancient  religion  of  a  countrv  has  always  many  votaries,  and 
sometimes  not  the  fewer  because  its  origin  is  hidden  in  remote- 
ness and  obscurity.     Men  have  a  natural  veneration  for  anti- 
quity, especially  in  matters  of  religion.     What  Tacitus  says  of 
the  Jewish,  was  more  applicable  to  the  heathen  establishment, 
'Hi  ritus,  quoquo  modo  inducti,  antiquitate  defenduntur.'     It 
Mas  also  a  splendid  and  sumptuous  worship.     It  had  its  priest- 
hood, its  endowments,  its  temples.     Statuary,  painting,  archi- 
tecture, and  music,  contributed  their  effect  to  its  ornament  and 
magnificence.     It  abounded  in  festival  shows  and  solemnities, 
to  which  the  common  people  are  greatly  addicted  ;  and  which 
were  of  a  nature  to  engage  them  much  more  than  any  thing  of 
that  sort  among  us.     These  things  would  retain  great  numbers 
on  its  side  by  the  fascination  of  spectacle  and  pomp,  as  well  as 
interest  many  in  its  preservation  by  the  advantage  which  they 
(\vc\v  from  it.     'It  was  moreover  interwoven,'  as  Mr.  Gibbon 
rightly  represents  it.  'with  every  circumstance  of  business  or 
pleasure,  of  public   or   private  life,  with  all   the  offices  and 
amusements  of  society.'     Upon  the  due  celebration  also  of  its 
rites,  the  people  were  taught  to  believe,  and  did  believe,  that 
the  prosperity  of  their  country  in  a  great  measure  depended. 

I  am  willing  to  accept  the  account  of  the  matter  which  is 
given  by  Mr.  Gibbon:  'The  various  modes  of  worship  which 
prevailed  in  the  Roman  world,  were  all  considered  by  the  people 
as  equally  true,  by  the  philosophers  as  equally  false,  and  by  the 
magistrate  as  equally  useful ;'  and  I  would  ask,  from  which  of 


Chap,  i.]  ProbcMe  Sufferings  of  Christians.  45 

these  three  classes  of  men  were  the  christian  missionaries  to 
look  for  protection  or  impunity?  Could  they  expect  it  from 
the  people,  '  whose  acknowledged  confidence  in  the  public 
religion' they  subverted  from  its  foundation  ?  from  the  philo- 
sopher who,  '  considering  all  religions  as  equally  false,'  would 
of  course  rank  theirs  among  the  number,  with  the  addition  of 
regarding  them  as  busy  and  troublesome  zealots?  or  from  the 
magistrate  who,  satisfied  with  the  'utility'  of  the  subsisting 
religion,  would  not  be  likely  to  countenance  a  spirit  of  proselyt- 
ism  and  innovation  ;  a  system  which  declared  war  against  every 
other,  and  which,  if  it  prevailed,  must  end  in  a  total  rupture 
of  public  opinion  ;  an  upstart  religion,  in  a  word,  which  was 
not  content  with  its  own  authority,  but  must  disgrace  all  the 
settled  religions  of  the  world  ?  It  was  not  to  be  imagined  that 
he  would  endure  with  patience,  that  the  religion  of  the  Emperor 
and  of  the  State  should  be  calumniated  and  borne  down  by  a 
company  of  superstitious  and  despicable  Jews. 

Lastly ;  the  nature  of  the  case  affords  a  strong  proof,  that 
the  original  teachers  of  Christianity,  in  consequence  of  their 
new  profession,  entered  upon  a  new  and  singular  course  of 
life.  We  may  be  allowed  to  presume,  that  the  institution 
which  they  preached  to  others,  they  conformed  to  in  their  own 
persons  ;  because  this  is  no  more  than  what  every  teacher  of  a 
new  religion  both  does,  and  must  do,  in  order  to  obtain  either 
proselytes  or  hearers.  The  change  which  this  would  produce 
was  very  considerable.  It  is  a  change  which  we  do  not  easily 
estimate,  because,  ourselves  and  all  about  us  being  habituated  to 
the  institution  from  our  infancy,  it  is  what  we  neither  experi- 
ence nor  observe.  After  men  became  Christians,  much  of  their 
time  was  spent  in  prayer  and  devotion,  in  religious  meetings,  in 
celebrating  the  eucharist,  in  conferences,  in  exhortations,  in 
preaching,  in  an  affectionate  intercourse  with  one  another,  and 
correspondence  with  other  societies.  Perhaps  their  mode  of 
life,  in  its  form  and  habit,  was  not  very  unlike  the  Unitas 
Fratrum,  or  of  modern  Methodists.  Think  then  what  it  was 
to  become  such  at  Corinth,  at  Ephesus,  at  Antioch,  or  even  at 
Jerusalem.  How  new  !  how  alien  from  all  their  former  habits 
and  ideas,  and  from  those  of  everybody  about  them  !  What  a 
revolution  there  must  have  been  of  opinions  and  prejudices  to 
bring  the  matter  to  this  ! 


46  Evidences  of  Christianity.  [Part  I. 

"We  know  what  the  precepts  of  the  religion  are ;  how  pure, 
how  benevolent,  how  disinterested  a  conduct  they  enjoin;  and 
that  this  purity  and  benevolence  is  extended  to  the  very 
thoughts  and  affections.  We  are  not  perhaps  at  liberty  to  take 
for  granted  that  the  lives  of  the  preachers  of  Christianity  were 
as  perfect  as  their  lessons ;  but  we  are  entitled  to  contend,  that 
the  observable  part  of  their  behavior  must  have  agreed  in  a 
great  measure  with  the  duties  which  they  taught.  There  was 
therefore,  which  is  all  that  we  assert,  a  course  of  life  pursued 
by  them,  different  from  that  which  they  before  led.  And  this 
is  of  great  importance.  Men  are  brought  to  any  thing  almost 
sooner  than  to  change  their  habit  of  life,  especially  when  the 
change  is  either  inconvenient,  or  made  against  the  force. of  na- 
tural inclination,  or  with  the  loss  of  accustomed  indulgences. 
'  It  is  the  most  difficult  of  all  things  to  convert  men  froin 
vicious  habits  to  virtuous  ones,  as  every  one  may  judge  from 
what  he  feels  in  himself,  as  well  as  from  what  he  sees  in 
others.'1     It  is  almost  like  making  men  over  again. 

Left  then  to  myself,  and  without  any  more  information  than 
a  knowledge  of  the  existence  of  the  religion,  of  the  general 
story  upon  which  it  is  founded,  and  that  no  act  of  power,  force, 
or  authority,  was  concerned  in  its  first  success,  I  should  con- 
clude, from  the  very  nature  and  exigency  of  the  case,  that  the 
author  of  the  religion  during  his  life,  and  his  immediate  dis- 
ciples after  his  death,  cvaied  themselves  in  spreading  and  pub- 
lishing the  institution  throughout  the  country  in  which  it 
began,  and  into  which  ir  was  firsl  carried;  that,  in  the  prose- 
cution of  this  purpose,  they  underwent  the  labors  and  troubles 
which  we  observe  the  propagators  of  new  sects  to  undergo; 
that  the  attempt  must  necessarily  have  also  been  in  a  high 
degree  dangerous;  that  from  the  subject  of  the  mission,  com- 
pared  with  the  fixed  opinions  and  prejudices  of  those  to  whom 
the  missionaries  were  to  address  themselves,  they  could  hardly 
fail  of  encountering  strong  and  frequent  opposition;  that,  by 
the  hand  of  government,  as  well  as  from  the  sudden  fury  and 
unbridled  license  of  the  people,  they  would  oftentimes  expe- 
rience injurious  and  cruel  treatment;  that,  at  any  rate,  they 
niii-t    have    always   had   bo  much   to  fear  for   their  personal 


1  Hartley's  Essays  on  Man,  p.  190. 


Chap,  i.]  Annotations.  47 

safety,  as  to  have  passed  their  lives  in  a  state  of  constant  peril 
and  anxiety  ;  and  lastly,  that  their  mode  of  life  and  conduct, 
visibly  at  least,  corresponded  with  the  institution  which  they 
delivered,  and,  so  far,  was  both  new,  and  required  continual 
self-denial. 


ANNOTATIONS. 

'  The  ruling  party  at  Jerusalem  had  just  before  crucified  the 

Founder  of  the  religion.'' 

If  the  idea  of  Christ's  Resurrection  occurred  to  the  disciples 
at  all,  it  must  have  occurred  to  them  as  a  thing  to  be  proved. 
'  Something'  may  have  made  it  congenial  to  their  own  minds ; 
but  nothing  could  have  bewitched  them  to  believe  it  would  turn 
out  congenial  to  the  minds  of  priests  and  people  reeking  with 
the  blood  of  a  murdered  Messiah.  And  they  must,  therefore, 
have  plainly  perceived  that,  in  spreading  such  a  story,  their 
personal  safety  was  at  stake.  We  read,  accordingly,  of  their 
being  '  straitly  threatened  by  the  Jewish  rulers,  as  intending  to 
brine:  on  them  this  man's  blood.' 


*» 


'A  system  which  swept  away  the  very  foundation  of  the  existing 

establishment? 

The  ancient  Romans  and  other  Pagans  seldom  objected  to 
the  addition  of  a  new  god  to  their  list ;  and  it  is  said  that  some 
of  them  actually  did  propose  to  enrol  Jesus  among  the  number. 
This  was  quite  consonant  to  the  genius  of  their  mythological 
system.  But  the  overthrow  of  the  whole  system  itself,  and  the 
substitution  of  a  fundamentally  different  religion,  was  a  thing 
they  at  first  regarded  with  alarm  and  horror ;  all  their  feelings 
were  enlisted  against  such  a  radical  change.  So  also  in  the  unre- 
formed  Churches.  The  enrolment  from  time  to  time  of  a  new 
saint  in  the  calendar,  or  the  promulgation  of  a  new  dogma,  are 
acceptable  novelties.  But  those  who  would  abolish  all  saint- 
worship,  and  restore  Christianity  to  its  primitive  purity,  are 
denounced  as  heretical  innovators.  Any  one,  therefore,  who 
should  imagine  that  the  Gospel  may  have  been  originally  re 


48  Evidences  of  Christianity.  [Part  I. 

eeived  with  some  degree  of  favor  on  account  of  its  being  new, 
because,  forsooth,  men  like  novelties,  and  that,  therefore,  some- 
thing short  of  the  most  overpowering  miraculous  proofs  might 
have  sufficed  for  its  introduction  and  spread, — such  a  person 
must  have  entirely  overlooked  the  distinction  between  the 
kinds  of  things  in  which  men  do  or  do  not  favor  what  is  new. 

'  That  the  n  ligion  of  the  Emperor  and  the  State  should  he 
calumniated  and  borne  down  by  a  company  of  superstitions 
and  despicable  Jews? 

Dean  Milman  has  given1  a  vivid  and  just  description  of  the 
kind  of  reception  likely  to  await  the  promulgators  of  the  Gospel 
in  heathen  cities. 

'  Conceive  then  the  Apostles  of  Jesus  Christ,  the  tentmaker 
or  the  fisherman,  entering,  as  strangers,  into  one  of  the  splendid 
cities  of  Syria,  Asia  Minor,  or  Greece.  Conceive  them,  I  mean, 
as  unendowed  with  miraculous  powers,  having  adopted  their 
itinerant  system  of  teaching  from  human  motives,  and  for 
human  purposes  alone.  As  they  pass  along  to  the  remote  and 
obscure  quarter,  where  they  expect  to  meet  with  precarious 
hospitality  among  their  countrymen,  they  survey  the  strength 
of  the  established  religion,  which  it  is  their  avowed  purpose  t<> 
overthrow.  Everywhere  they  behold  temples  on  which  the  ut- 
most extravagance  of  expenditure  has  been  lavished  by  succeed- 
ing generations;  idols  of  the  most  exquisite  workmanship,  to 
which,  even  if  the  religious  feeling  of  adoration  is  enfeebled,  the 
people  are  strongly  attached  by  national  or  local  vanity.  They 
meet  processions,  in  which  the  idle  find  perpetual  occupation,  the 
young  excitement,  the  voluptuous  a  continual  stimulant  to  their 
passions.  They  behold  a  priesthood,  numerous,  sometimes 
wealthy;  nor  are  these  alone  wedded  by  interest  to  the  estab- 
lished faith;  many  of  the  trades,  like  those  of  the  makers  of 
silver  shrines  in  Ephesus,  are  pledged  to  the  support  of  that  to 
which  they  owe  their  maintenance.  They  pass  a  magnificent 
theatre,  on  the  splendor  and  success  of  which  the  popularity  of 
lie'  existing  authorities  mainly  depends;  and  in  which  the 
serious  exhibitions  are  essentially  religious,  the  lighter  as  inti- 


Bampton  Lectures,  I-.  vi.  ]>.  269. 


Chap,  i.]  Annotations.  •  49 

mately  connected  with  the  indulgence  of  the  Laser  passions. 
They  behold  another  public  building,  where  even  worse  feel- 
ings, the  cruel  and  the  sanguinary,  are  pampered  by  the  ani- 
mating contests  of  wild  beasts  and  of  gladiators,  in  which  they 
themselves  may  shortly  play  a  dreadful  part, 

'  Butcher' d  to  make  a  Roman  holiday  !' 

Show  and  spectacle  are  the  characteristic  enjoyments  of  the 
whole  people,  and  every  show  and  spectacle  is  either  sacred  to 
the  religious  feelings,  or  incentive  to  the  lusts  of  the  flesh  ;  those 
feelings  which  must  be  entirely  eradicated,  those  lusts  which 
must  be  brought  into  total  subjection  to  the  law  of  Christ.  They 
encounter  likewise  itinerant  jugglers,  diviners,  magicians,  who 
impose  upon  the  credulous,  and  excite  the  contempt  of  the  en- 
lightened :  in  the  first  case,  dangerous  rivals  to  those  who  should 
attempt  to  propagate  a  new  faith  by  imposture  and  deception; 
in  the  latter,  naturally  tending  to  prejudice  the  mind  against  all 
miraculous  pretensions  whatever:  here,  like  Ely  mas,  endeavor- 
ing to  outdo  the  signs  and  wonders  of  the  Apostles  ;  there, 
throwing  suspicion  on  all  asserted  supernatural  agency,  by  the 
frequency  and  clumsiness  of  their  delusions.  They  meet  philo- 
sophers, frequently  itinerant  like  themselves  ;  or  teachers  of 
new  religions,  priests  of  Isis  and  Serapis,  who  have  brought 
into  equal  discredit  what  might  otherwise  have  appeared  a  proof 
of  philanthropy,  the  performing  laborious  journeys  at  the  sacri- 
fice of  personal  ease  and  comfort,  for  the  moral  and  religions 
improvement  of  mankind  ;  or  at  least  have  so  accustomed  the 
public  mind  to  similar  pretensions,  as  to  take  away  every  attrac- 
tion from  their  boldness  or  novelty.  There  are  also  the  teachers 
of  the  different  mysteries,  which  would  engross  all  the  anxiety 
of  the  inquisitive,  perhaps  excite,  even  if  they  did  not  satisfy, 
the  hopes  of  the  more  pure  and  lofty-minded.  Such  must  have 
been  among  the  obstacles  which  would  force  themselves  on  the 
calmer  moments  of  the  most  ardent ;  such  the  overpowering 
difficulties,  of  which  it  would  be  impossible  to  overlook  the 
importance,  or  elude  the  force;  which  required  no  sober  calcu- 
lation to  estimate,  no  laborious  inquiry  to  discover  ;  which  met 
and  confronted  them  wherever  they  went,  and  which,  either  in 
desperate  presumption,  or  deliberate  reliance  on  their  own  pre- 
ternatural powers,  they  must  have  contemned  and  defied. 

■A 


50  Evidences  of  Christianity.  [Part  I. 

'The  commencement  of  their  labors  was  usually  dishearten- 
ing, and  ill-calculated  to  keep  alive  the  flame  of  ungrounded 
enthusiasm.  They  begin  their  operations  in  the  narrow  and 
secluded  synagogue  of  their  own  countrymen.  The  novelty  of 
their  doctrine,  and  curiosity,  secure  them  at  first  a  patient  atten- 
tion ;  but  as  the  more  offensive  tenets  are  developed,  the  most 
fierce  and  violent  passions  are  awakened.  Scorn  and  hatred  are 
seen  working  in  the  clouded  brows  and  agitated  countenances 
of  the  leaders  :  if  here  and  there  one  is  pricked  to  the  heart,  it 
requires  considerable  moral  courage  to  acknowledge  his  convic- 
tion ;  and  the  new  teachers  are  either  cast  forth  from  the  indig- 
nant assembly  of  their  own  people,  liable  to  all  the  punishments 
which  they  are  permitted  to  inflict,  scourged  and  beaten  ;  or,  if 
they  succeed  in  forming  a  party,  they  give  rise  to  a  furious 
schism  ;  and  thus  appear  before  the  heathen  with  the  danger- 
ous notoriety  of  having  caused  a  violent  tumult,  and  broken 
the  public  peace  by  their  turbulent  and  contentions  harangues : 
at  all  events,  disclaimed  by  that  very  people  on  whose  traditions 
they  profess  to  build  their  doctrines,  and  to  whose  Scriptures 
they  appeal  in  justification  of  their  pretensions.  They  endure, 
they  persevere,  they  continue  to  sustain  the  contest  against 
Judaism  and  paganism.  It  is  still  their  deliberate,  ostensible, 
and  avowed  object  to  overthrow  all  this  vast  system  of  idol- 
atry ;  to  tear  up  by  the  roots  all  ancient  prejudices  ;  to  silence 
shrines,  sanctified  by  the  veneration  of  ages  as  oracular;  to 
consign  all  those  gorgeous  temples  to  decay,  and  all  those 
images  to  contempt;  to  wean  the  people  from  every  barbarous 
and  dissolute  amusement 

'  But  in  one  respect  it  is  impossible  now  to  conceive  the 
extent  to  which  the  Apostles  of  the  crucified  Jesus  shocked  all 
the  feelings  of  mankind.  The  public  establishment  of  Chris- 
tianity, the  adoration  of  ages,  the  reverence  of  nations,  has 
thrown  around  the  CT088  of  Christ  an  indelible  and  inalienable 
sanctity.  No  effort  of  the  imagination  can  dissipate  the  illu- 
sion of  dignity  which  has  gathered  round  it;  it  has  been  so 
long  dissevered  from  all  its  coarse  and  humiliating  associa- 
tions, that  it  cannot  be  cast  back  and  desecrated  into  its  »tate 
of  opprobrium  and  contempt.  To  the  most  daring  unbeliever 
among  ourselves,  it  is  the  symbol — the  absurd,  and  irra'ional, 
he  may  conceive,  but  still  the  ancient  and  venerable  symbol — 


Chap,  ii.]  Testimony  of  Prof  ane  Writers.  51 

of  a  powerful  and  influential  religion  :  what  was  it  to  the  Jew 
and  to  the  heathen  ?  the  basest,  the  most  degrading  punish- 
ment of  the  lowest  criminal !  the  proverbial  terror  of  the 
wretched  slave  !  it  was  to  them,  what  the  most  despicable  and 
revolting  instrument  of  public  execution  is  to  us.  Yet  to  the 
cross  of  Christ,  men  turned  from  deities  in  which  were  embodied 
every  attribute  of  strength,  power,  and  dignity  ;  in  an  incre- 
dibly short  space  of  time  multitudes  gave  up  the  splendor,  the 
pride,  and  the  power  of  paganism,  to  adore  a  Being  who  was 
thus  humiliated  beneath  the  meanest  of  mankind,  who  had 
become,  according  to  the  literal  interpretation  of  the  prophecy, 
a  very  scorn  of  men,  and  an  outcast  of  the  people? 


CHAPTER  II. 


There  is  satisfactory  evidence  that  many,  professing  to  he  ori- 
ginally witnesses  of  the  christian  miracles,  passed  their 
lives  in  labors,  dangers,  and  sufferings,  voluntarily  under- 
gone in  attestation  of  the  accounts  which  they  delivered,  and 
solely  in  consequence  of  their  belief  of  those  accounts  /  and 
that  they  also  submitted,  from  the  same  motives,  to  new  rules 
of  conduct. 

AFTER,  thus  considering  what  was  likely  to  happen,  we  are 
next  to  inquire  how  the  transaction  is  represented  in  the 
several  accounts  that  have  come  down  to  us.  And  this  inquiry 
is  properly  preceded  by  the  other,  forasmuch  as  the  reception 
of  these  accounts  may  depend  in  part  upon  the  credibility  of 
what  they  contain. 

The  obscure  and  distant  view  of  Christianity,  which  some  of 
the  heathen  writers  of  that  age  had  gained,  and  which  a  few 
passages  in  their  remaining  works  incidentally  discover  to  us, 
offers  itself  to  our  notice  in  the  first  place  :  because,  so  far  as 
this  evidence  goes,  it  is  the  concession  of  adversaries  ;  the  source 
from  which  it  is  drawn,  is  unsuspected.  Under  this  head  a 
quotation  from  Tacitus,  well  known  to  every  scholar,  must  be 
inserted  as  deserving  of  particular  attention.  The  reader  will 
bear  in  mind  that  this  passage  was  written  about  seventy  years 


52  Evidt  nces  of  Christianity.  [Part  I. 

after  Christ's  death,  and  that  it  relates  to  transactions  which 
took  place  about  thirty  years  after  that  event.  Speaking  of 
the  fire  which  happened  at  Rome  in  the  time  of  Nero,  and  of 
the  suspicions  which  were  entertained  that  the  Emperor  him- 
self was  concerned  in  causing  it,  the  historian  proceeds  in  his 
narrative  ami  observations  thus: 

•  But  neither  these  exertions,  nor  his  largesses  to  the  people, 
m>r  his  offerings  to  the  gods,  did  away  the  infamous  imputation 
under  which  Nero  lay  of  having  ordered  the  city  to  be  set  on 
fire.  To  put  an  end,  therefore,  to  this  report,  he  laid  the 
guilt,  ami  inflicted  the  most  cruel  punishments,  upon  a  set  of 
people  who  were  held  in  abhorrence  for  their  crimes,  and  called 
bv  the  vulgar  Christians.  The  founder  of  that  name  was 
Christ,  who  suffered  death  in  the  reign  of  Tiberius,  und^er  his 
procurator  Pontius  Pilate.  This  pernicious  superstition,  thus 
checked  for  a  while,  broke  out  again  ;  and  spread  not  only  o>fcer 
Judea,  where  theevil  originated, but  through  Rome  also,  whither 
every  thing  had  upon  earth  finds  its  way,  and  is  practised. 
Some  who  confessed  their  sect  were  first  seized,  and  afterwards 
by  their  information  a  vast  multitude  were  apprehended,  who 
were  convicted,  not  so  much  of  the  crime  of  burning  Rome,  as 
of  hatred  to  mankind.  Their  sufferings  at  their  execution  were 
aggravated  by  insult  and  mockery  ;  forsomewere  disguised  in 
the  skins  of  wild  beasts,  and  worried  to  death  by  dogs — some 
wore  crucified  —and  others  were  wrapped  in  pitched  shirts,1  and 
set  on  tire  when  the  day  closed,  that  they  might  serve  as  lights 
to  illuminate  the  night.  N"ero  lent  his  own  gardens  for  these 
executions;  and  exhibited  at  the  same  time  a  mock  Circensian 
entertainment,  being  a  spectator  of  the  whole  in  the  dress  of  a 
charioteer,  sometimes  mingling  with  the  crowd  on  foot,  and 
sometimes  viewing  the  spectacle  from  his  car.  This  conduct 
made  the  sufferers  pitied  ;  and  though  they  were  criminals,  and 
deserving  the  severest  punishment,  yet  they  were  considered  as 
sacrificed,  not  bo  much  out  of  a  regard  to  the  public  good,  as  to 
gratify  the  cruelty  of  one  man.' 

( )ur  concern  with  this  passage  :it  present  is  only  so  far  as  it 
affords  a  presumption  in  support  of  the  proposition  which  we 

'  This  is  rather  a  paraphrase,  but  is  justified  by  what  the  Scholiast  upon  Juve- 
nal says—'  Nero  maleficos  homines  tela  et  papj  ro  ft  cerfl  supervestiebat.  et  sic 
mi  ignem  ad  moved  jubebat.'     Lard.  Jewish  and  Heath.  Tut  ,  vol.  i.  p.  359. 


Chap,  ii.]  Testimony  of  Profane  Writers.  53 

maintain,  concerning  the  activity  and  sufferings  of  the  first 
teachers  of  Christianity.  Now,  considered  in  this  view,  it 
proves  three  things;  1st,  that  the  founder  of  the  institution  was 
put  to  death;  2dly,  that  in  the  same  country  in  which  he  was 
put  to  death,  the  religion,  after  a  short  check,  broke  out  again 
and  spread;  3dly,  that  it  so  spread,  as  that,  within  thirty-four 
years  from  the  author's  death,  a  very  great  number  of  Christians 
(ingens  eorum  multituclo)  were  found  at  Rome.  From  which 
fact,  the  two  following  inferences  may  be  fairly  drawn  ;  1st, 
that  if,  in  the  space  of  thirty-four  years  from  its  commence- 
ment, the  religion  had  spread  throughout  Judea,  had  extended 
itself  to  Rome,  and  there  had  numbered  a  great  multitude  of 
converts,  the  original  teachers  and  missionaries  of  the  institu- 
tion could  not  have  been  idle  /  2dly,  that  when  the  author  of 
the  undertaking  was  put  to  death  as  a  malefactor  for  his  attempt, 
the  endeavors  of  his  followers  to  establish  his  religion,  in  the 
same  country,  amongst  the  same  people,  and  in  the  same  age, 
could  not  but  be  attended  with  danger. 

Suetonius,  a  writer  contemporary  with  Tacitus,  describing  the 
transactions  of  the  same  reign,  uses  these  words :  '  Affecti 
suppliciis  Christiani,  genus  hominum  superstitionis  novre  et 
maleficae.' l  '  The  Christians,  a  set  of  men  of  a  new  and  mis- 
chievous [or  magical]  superstition,  were  punished.' 

Since  it  is  not  mentioned  here  that  the  burning  of  the  city 
was  the  pretence  of  the  punishment  of  the  Christians,  or  that 
they  were  the  Christians  of  Rome  who  alone  suffered,  it  is  pro- 
bable that  Suetonius  refers  to  some  more  general  persecution 
than  the  short  and  occasional  one  which  Tacitus  describes. 

Juvenal,  a  writer  of  the  same  age  with  the  two  former,  and 
intending,  it  should  seem,  to  commemorate  the  cruelties  ex- 
ercised under  Nero's  government,  has  the  following  lines  :8 

Pone  Tigellimim,  ted  a,  lncebis  in  111  A,, 

Qua  stantes  ardent,  qui  fixo  gutture  fumant, 

Et  latum  media  sulcum  deducit3  arena. 

'Describe  Tigellinus  [a  creature  of  Nero's],  and  you  shall 
suffer  the  same  punishment  with  those  who  stand  burning  in 
their  own  flame  and  smoke,  their  head  being  held  up  by  a  stake 
fixed  to  their  chin,  till  they  make  a  long  stream  of  blood  and 
melted  sulphur  on  the  ground.' 

1  Suet.  Nero.  cap.  16.  !  Sat.  i.  ver.  155.  3  Forsan  '  deducis.' 


5±  Evidences  of  Christianity.  Part  I. 

If  this  passage  were  considered  by  itself,  the  subject  of  the 
allusion  might  be  doubtful ;  but  when  connected  with  the  testi- 
mony of  Suetonius,  as  to  the  actual  punishment  of  the  Christians 
by  Nero  ;  and  with  the  account  given  by  Tacitus  of  the  species 
of  punishment  which  they  were  made  to  undergo  ;  I  think  it 
sufficiently  probable,  that  these  were  the  executions  to  which 
the  poet  refers. 

These  things,  as  hath  already  been  observed,  took  placa 
within  thirty-one  years  after  Christ's  death,  that  is,  according 
to  the  course  of  nature,  in  the  lifetime,  probably,  of  some  of 
the  apostles,  and  certainly  in  the  lifetime  of  those  who  were 
converted  by  the  apostles,  or  who  were  converted  in  their  time. 
If,  then,  the  founder  of  the  religion  was  put  to  death  in  the 
execution  of  his  design;  if  the  first  race  of  converts vto  the 
religion,  many  of  them,  suffered  the  greatest  extremities  for 
their  profession,  it  is  hardly  credible,  that  those  who  cine 
between  the  two,  who  were  companions  of  the  author  of  the 
institution  during  his  life,  and  the  teachers  and  propagators  of 
the  institution  after  his  death,  could  go  about  their  undertaking 
with  ease  and  safety. 

The  testimony  of  the  younger  Pliny  belongs  to  a  later 
period  ;  for  although  he  was  contemporary  with  Tacitus  and 
Suetonius,  yet  his  account  does  not,  like  theirs,  go  back  to  the 
transactions  of  Nero's  reign,  but  is  confined  to  the  affairs  of 
his  own  time.  His  celebrated  letter  to  Trajan  was  written 
about  seventy  years  after  Christ's  death  ;  and  the  information 
to  be  drawn  from  it,  so  far  as  it  is  connected  with  our  argument, 
relates  principally  to  two  points:  first,  to  the  number  of 
Christians  in  Bithynia  and  Pontus,  which  was  so  considerable 
as  to  induce  the  governor  of  these  provinces  to  speak  of  them 
in  the  following  terms:  ' Multi,  omnis  aetatis,  utriusque  sexus 
etiam — neque  enini  ci\  itates  tantum,  sed  vicos  etiani  et  agros, 
superstitionis  istius  contagio  pervagata  est.'  'There  are  many 
of  every  age  and  of  both  sexes — nor  has  the  contagion  of  this 
superstition  seized  cities  only,  but  smaller  towns  also,  and  the 
open  country.'  Great  exertions  must  have  been  used  by  the 
preachers  of  Christianity  to  produce  this  state  of  things  within 
this  time.  Secondly,  to  a  point  which  hath  been  already 
noticed,  and  which  1  think  of  importance  to  be  observed, 
namely,  the  sufferings  to  which  Christians  were  exposed,  with 


Chap,  ii.]  Testimony  ofProfane  Writers.  55 

out  any  public  persecution  being  denounced  against  them  by 
sovereign  authority.  For,  from  Pliny's  doubt  how  he  was  to 
act,  his  silence  concerning  any  subsisting  law  upon  the  subject, 
his  requesting  the  emperor's  rescript,  and  the  emperor,  agreea- 
bly to  his  request,  propounding  a  rule  for  his  direction,  without 
reference  to  any  prior  rule,  it  may  be  inferred,  that  there  was, 
at  that  time,  no  public  edict  against  the  Christians  in  force. 
Yet  from  this  same  epistle  of  Pliny,  it  appears  '  that  accusa- 
tions, trials,  and  examinations  were,  and  had  been,  going  on 
against  them  in  the  provinces  over  which  he  presided  ;  that 
schedules  were  delivered  by  anonymous  informers,  containing 
the  names  of  persons  who  were  suspected  of  holding  or  of  fa- 
voring the  religion  ;  that,  in  consequence  of  these  informations, 
many  had  been  apprehended,  of  whom  some  boldly  avowed  their 
profession,  and  died  in  the  cause ;  others  denied  that  they  were 
Christians ;  others,  acknowledging  that  they  had  once  been 
Christians,  declared  that  they  had  long  ceased  to  be  such.'  All 
which  demonstrates  that  the  profession  of  Christianity  was  at 
that  time  (in  that  country  at  least)  attended  with  fear  and  dan- 
ger ;  and  yet  this  took  place  without  any  edict  from  the  Ro- 
man sovereign  commanding  or  authorizing  the  persecution  of 
Christians.  This  observation  is  farther  confirmed  by  a  rescript 
of  Adrian  to  Minucius  Fundanus,  the  proconsul  of  Asia  :'  from 
which  rescript  it  appears  that  the  custom  of  the  people  of  Asia 
was  to  proceed  against  the  Christians  with  tumult  and  uproar. 
This  disorderly  practice,  I  say,  is  recognized  in  the  edict,  be- 
cause the  emperor  enjoins,  that,  for  the  future,  if  the  Christians 
were  guilty,  they  should  be  legally  brought  to  trial,  and  not  be 
pursued  by  importunity  and  clamor. 

Martial  wrote  a  few  years  before  the  younger  Pliny  ;  and, 
as  his  manner  was,  made  the  sufferings  of  the  Christians  the 
subject  of  his  ridicule.2     Nothing,  however,  could  show  the 

'  Lard.  Heath.  Ted.,  v.  ii.  p.  110. 
-  In  matutina  nuper  spectatus  arena 

Mucins,  imposuit  qui  sua  membra  focis, 
Si  patiens  fortisque  tibi  durusque  videtur, 

Abderitanae  pectora  plebis  babes  ; 
Nam  cum  dicatur,  tunica  pnesente  molesta, 
Ure°  mannm  :  plus  est  dicere,  Non  facio. 


tt  Forsan  •  thure  manum.' 


56  Evidences  of  Christianity.  [Part  I. 

notoriety  of  the  fact  with  more  certainty  than  this  does. 
Martial's  testimony,  as  well  indeed  as  Pliny's,  goes  also  to 
another  point,  viz.,  that  the  deaths  of  these  men  were  martyr- 
doms in  the  strictest  sense,  that  is  to  say,  were  so  voluntary 
that  it  was  in  their  power,  at  the  time  of  pronouncing  the  sen- 
tence, to  have  averted  the  execution  "by  consenting  to  join  in 
heathen  sacrifices. 

The  constancy,  and  by  consequence  the  sufferings  of  the 
Christians  of  this  period,  is  also  referred  to  by  Epictetus,  who 
imputes  their  intrepidity  to  madness,  or  to  a  kind  of  fashion  or 
habit ;  and  about  fifty  years  afterwards,  by  Marcus  Aurelius, 
who  ascribes  it  to  obstinacy.  '  Is  it  possible  [Epictetus  asks] 
that  a  man  may  arrive  at  this  temper,  and  become  indifferent 
to  those  things,  from  madness  or  from  habit,  as  the  Qal%lka/mVx 
1  Let  this  preparation  of  the  mind  [to  die]  arise  from  its  «wn 
judgment,  and  not  from  obstinacy  like  the  Christians  P 2 


ANNOTATION. 

'  Ure  manuni? 

Tli ere  seems  no  ground  for  the  proposed  conjectural  emen- 
dation of  this  passage.  It  seems  to  have  been  a  practice,  in  the 
days  of  the  en  1  pi  re,  to  entertain  the  Roman  populace  with 
scenic  representations  of  passages  in  the  early  Roman  history; 
among  others,  Scsevola's  burning  his  hand.  And  if  some 
wretched  captive  or  malefactor  was  compelled  actually  to  per- 
form that  part,  with  only  the  alternative  of  being  burnt  to 
death  in  the  •  tunica  molesta,'  it  would  have  required,  Martial 
remarks,  more  fortitude  to  refuse  than  to  comply. 


1  Epic,  1.  iv.  c.  7.  2  Marc.  Aur.  Med.,  1.  xi.  c.  3. 


Chap,  iii.]  Testimony  of  Ch/ristiam.  Writers.  57 


CHAPTER  III. 

There  is  satisfactory  evidence,  that  many,  professing  to  he  origi- 
nal witnesses  of  the  christian  miracles,  passed  their  lives  in 
labors,  dangers,  and  sufferings,  voluntarily  undergone  in 
attestation  of  the  accounts  which  they  delivered,  and  solely 
in  consequence  of  their  belief  of  those  accounts/  and  that 
they  also  submitted,  from  the  same  motives,  to  new  rides  of 
conduct. 

OF  the  primitive  condition  of  Christianity,  a  distant  only 
and  general  view  can  be  acquired  from  heathen  writers. 
It  is  in  our  own  books  that  the  detail  and  interior  of  the  trans- 
action must  be  sought  for.  And  this  is  nothing  different  from 
what  might  be  expected.  "Who  would  write  a  history  of 
Christianity  but  a  Christian  ?  Who  was  likely  to  record  the 
travels,  sufferings,  labors,  or  successes  of  the  Apostles,  but  one 
of  their  own  number,  or  of  their  followers?  Now  these  books 
come  up  in  their  accounts  to  the  full  extent  of  the  proposition 
which  we  maintain.  We  have  four  histories  of  Jesus  Christ. 
We  have  a  history  taking  up  the  narrative  from  his  death,  and 
carrying  on  an  account  of  the  propagation  of  the  religion,  and 
of  some  of  the  most  eminent  persons  engaged  in  it,  for  a  space 
of  nearly  thirty  years.  We  have,  what  some  may  think  still 
more  original,  a  collection  of  letters,  written  by  certain  principal 
agents  in  the  business,  upon  the  business,  and  in  the  midst  of 
their  concern  and  connection  with  it.  And  we  have  these 
writings  severally  attesting  the  point  which  we  contend  for, 
viz.,  the  sufferings  of  the  witnesses  of  the  history,  and  attesting 
it  in  every  variety  of  form  in  which  it  can  be  conceived  to 
appear  ;  directly  and  indirectly,  expressly  and  incidentally,  by 
assertion,  recital,  and  allusion,  by  narratives  of  facts,  and  by 
arguments  and  discourses  built  upon  these  facts,  either  referring 
to  them,  or  necessarily  presupposing  them. 

I  remark  this  variety,  because,  in  examining  ancient  records, 
or  indeed  any  species  of  testimony,  it  is,  in  my  opinion,  of  the 
greatest  importance  to  attend  to  the  information  or  grounds  of 
argument  which  are  casually  and  undesignedly  disclosed ;  foras- 


58  Evidences  of  Christianity.  [Part  I. 

much  as  this  species  of  proof  is,  of  all  others,  the  least  liable  to 
be  corrupted  by  fraud  or  misrepresentation. 

I  may  be  allowed  therefore,  in  the  inquiry  which  is  now 
before  us,  to  suggest  some  conclusions  of  this  sort,  as  prepara- 
tory to  more  direct  testimony. 

1.  Our  books  relate,  that  Jesus  Christ,  the  founder  of  the 
religion,  was,  in  consequence  of  his  undertaking,  put  to  death, 
as  a  malefactor,  at  Jerusalem.  This  point  at  least  will  be 
granted,  because  it  is  no  more  than  what  Tacitus  has  recorded. 
They  then  proceed  to  tell  us,  that  the  religion  was,  notwith- 
standing, set  forth  at  this  same  city  of  Jerusalem,  propagated 
from  thence  throughout  Judea,  and  afterwards  preached  in 
other  parts  of  the  Roman  empire.  These  points  also  are  fully 
confirmed  by  Tacitus,  who  informs  us  that  the  religion,  after  a 
short  check,  broke  out  again  in  the  country  where  it  toofc  its 
rise  ;  that  it  not  only  spread  throughout  Judea,  but  had  reached 
Rome  ;  and  that  it  had  there  great  multitudes  of  converts  :  and 
all  this  within  thirty  years  after  its  commencement.  Now 
these  facts  afford  a  strong  inference  in  behalf  of  the  proposition 
which  we  maintain.  What  could  the  disciples  of  Christ  expect 
for  themselves  when  they  saw  their  master  put  to  death? 
Could  they  hope  to  escape  the  dangers,  in  which  he  had  per- 
ished? If  they  have  persecuted  me,  they  will  also  persecute 
you,  was  the  warning  of  common  sense.  With  this  example 
before  their  eyes,  they  could  not  be  without  a  full  sense  of  the 
peril  of  their  future  enterprise. 

2.  Secondly,  all  the  histories  agree  in  representing  Christ  as 
foretelling  the  persecution  of  his  followers. 

'Then  shall  they  deliver  you  up  to  be  afflicted,  and  shall  kill 
you,  and  ye  shall  be  hated  of  all  nations  for  my  name's  sake.'1 

'  When  affliction  or  persecution  ariseth  fur  the  word's  sake, 
immediately  they  are  offended.'" 

'They  shall  lav  hands  on  you,  and  persecute  you,  delivering 
you  up  to  the  synagogues,  and  into  prisons,  being  brought 
before  kings  and  rulers  for  my  name's  sake — and  ye  shall  be  be- 
trayed both  by  parents,  and  brethren,  and  kinsfolks,  and  friends, 
and  some  of  you  shall  they  cause  to  be  put  to  death.'3 


1  Matt,  xxiv.  9.  -  Mark  iv.  17.     See  also  x.  30. 

s  Luke  xxi.  12-1G.      See  also  xi.  49. 


Chap,  iii.]         Testimony  of  Christian  Writers.  59 

'The  time  cometh,  that  he  that  killeth  you  will  think  that 
he  doeth  God  service.  And  these  things  will  they  do  unto  yon, 
because  they  have  not  known  the  Father  nor  me.  But  these 
things  have  I  told  you,  that  when  the  time  shall  come  ye  may 
remember  that  I  told  you  of  them.'1 

I  am  not  entitled  to  argue  from  these  passages,  that  Christ 
actually  did  foretel  these  events,  and  that  they  did  accordingly 
come  to  pass,  because  that  would  be  at  once  to  assume  the 
truth  of  the  religion  ;  but  I  am  entitled  to  contend,  that  one 
side  or  other  of  the  following  disjunction  is  true:  either  that 
the  evangelists  have  delivered  what  Christ  really  spoke,  and 
that  the  event  corresponded  with  the  prediction  ;  or  that  they 
put  the  prediction  into  Christ's  mouth,  because,  at  the  time  of 
writing  the  history,  the  event  had  turned  out  so  to  be :  for  the 
only  two  remaining  suppositions  appear  in  the  highest  degree 
incredible,  which  are,  either  that  Christ  rilled  the  minds  of  his 
followers  with  fears  and  apprehensions,  without  any  reason  or 
authority  for  what  he  said,  and  contrary  to  the  truth  of  the 
case ;  or  that,  although  Christ  had  never  foretold  any  such 
thing,  and  the  event  would  have  contradicted  him  if  he  had, 
yet  historians  who  lived  in  the  age  when  the  event  was  known, 
falsely  as  well  as  officiously,  ascribed  these  words  to  him. 

3.  Thirdly,  these  books  abound  with  exhortations  to  patience, 
and  with  topics  of  comfort  under  distress. 

'  Who  shall  separate  us  from  the  love  of  Christ  ?  Shall 
tribulation,  or  distress,  or  persecution,  or  famine,  or  nakedness, 
or  peril,  or  sword  ?  Nay,  in  all  these  things  we  are  more  than 
conquerors  through  him  that  loved  us.' 2 

'  We  are  troubled  on  every  side,  yet  not  distressed ;  we  are 
perplexed,  but  not  in  despair ;  persecuted,  but  not  forsaken ; 
cast  down,  but  not  destroyed  ;  always  bearing  about  in  the  body 
the  dying  of  the  Lord  Jesus,  that  the  life  also  of  Jesus  might  be 
made  manifest  in  our  body — knowing  that  he  which  raised  up 
the  Lord  Jesus  shall  raise  us  up  also  by  Jesus,  and  shall  present 

us  with  you For  which  cause  we  taint  not;  but,  though  our 

outward  man  perish,  yet  the  inward  man  is  renewed  day  by 
day.     For   our   light   affliction,  which  is  but  for  a  moment. 


i  John  xvi.  4.     See  also  xv.  20.  and  xvi.  33. 
3  Rom.  viii.  35,  37. 


60  Evidences  of  Christianity.  [Part  I. 

worketh  for  us  a  far  more  exceedino;  and  eternal  weight  of 
glory.' l 

k  Take,  my  brethren,  the  prophets,  who  have  spoken  in  the 
name  of  the  Lord,  for  an  example  of  suffering  affliction,  and  of 
patience.  Behold,  we  count  them  happy  which  endure.  Ye 
have  heard  of  the  patience  of  Job,  and  have  seen  the  end  of 
the  Lord ;  that  the  Lord  is  very  pitiful,  and  of  tender  mercy.' 2 

'Call  to  remembrance  the  former  days,  in  which,  after  ye 
were  illuminated,  ye  endured  a  great  fight  of  afflictions,  partly 
whilst  ye  vcere  made  a  gazing-stock  both  by  reproaches  and 
afflictions,  and  partly  whilst  ye  became  companions  of  them 
that  were  so  used ;  for  ye  had  compassion  of  me  in  my  bonds, 
and  took  joyfully  the  spoiling  of  your  goods,  knowing  in  your- 
selves that  ye  have  in  heaven  a  better  and  an  enduring  sub- 
stance. Cast  not  away  therefore  your  confidence,  whicl^  hath 
great  recompense  of  reward  ;  for  ye  have  need  of  patience,  that 
after  ye  have  done  the  will  of  God,  ye  might  receive  the 
promise.'3 

'  So  that  we  ourselves  glory  in  you  in  the  churches  of  God, 
for  your  patience  and  faith  in  all  your  persecutions  and  tribula- 
tions that  ye  endure.  "Which  is  a  manifest  token  of  the  righ- 
teous judgment  of  God,  that  ye  may  be  accounted  worthy  of 
the  kingdom  for  which  ye  also  suffer.'4 

w  We  rejoice  in  hope  of  the  glory  of  God  ;  and  nor  only  so, 
but  we  glory  in  tribulations  also ;  knowing  that  tribulation 
worketh  patience,  and  patience  experience,  and  experience 
hope.'5 

'Beloved,  think  it  not  strange  concerning  the  fiery  trial 
which  is  to  try  you,  as  though  some  strange  thing  happened 
unto  you  ;  but  rejoice,  inasmuch  as  ye  are  partakers  of  Christ's 
Bufferings.  Wherefore  let  them  that  suffer  according  to  the 
will  of  God,  commit  the  keeping  of  their  souls  to  him  in  well 
doing,  as  unto  a  faithful  Creator.'6 

What  could  all  these  texts  mean,  if  there  was  nothing  in 
the  circumstances  of  the  times  which  required  patience,  which 
called  for  the  exercise  of  constancy  and  resolution  ?     Or  will 


1  2  Cor.  iv.  8-10,  14,  10,  17.  *  James  v.  10,  11. 

3  Heb.  x.  32-36.  •  2  Thess.  i.  1-5.  6  Rom.  v.  3.  4. 

•  1  Pet.  iv.  12,  13,  19. 


Ciiap.  iii.]  Annotation.  61 

it  be  pretended  that  these  exhortations  (which,  let  it  be  observed, 
come  not  from  one  author,  but  from  many)  were  put  in,  merely 
to  induce  a  belief  in  after-ages,  that  the  first  Christians  were 
exposed  to  dangers  which  they  were  not  exposed  to,  or  under- 
went sufferings  which  they  did  not  undergo?  If  these  books 
belong  to  the  age  to  which  they  lay  claim,  and  in  which  age, 
whether  genuine  or  spurious,  they  certainly  did  appear,  this 
supposition  cannot  be  maintained  for  a  moment ;  because  I 
think  it  impossible  to  believe  that  passages,  which  must  be 
deemed  not  only  unintelligible,  but  false,  by  the  persons  into 
whose  hands  the  books  upon  their  publication  were  to  come, 
should  nevertheless  be  inserted,  for  the  purpose  of  producing  an 
effect  upon  remote  generations.  In  forgeries  which  do  not 
appear  till  many  ages  after  that  to  which  they  pretend  to 
belong,  it  is  possible  that  some  contrivance  of  that  sort  may 
take  place  ;  but  in  no  others  can  it  be  attempted. 


ANNOTATION. 

'  These  books  abound  with  exhortations  to  patience,  and  with 
topics  of  comfort  under  distress.'' 

Yery  remarkable  however,  and  very  characteristic  of  truthful- 
ness, is  the  calm,  and  almost  careless  tone  in  which  both  miracles 
and  persecutions  are  spoken  of.  There  is  no  attempt  to 
express,  or  to  excite,  either  admiration,  or  indignation,  or 
pity  ; — no  sign  of  what  is  called  '  writing  for  effect.'  On 
this  subject  I  cannot  forbear  extracting  a  most  admirable 
passage  from  the  London  Review,  No.  II.  pp.  345,  316. 

'  Theirs  is  a  history  of  miracles  ;  the  historical  picture  of 
the  scene  in  which  the  Spirit  of  God  was  poured  on  all  flesh  : 
and  signs  and  wonders,  visions  and  dreams,  were  part  of  the 
essentials  of  their  narratives.  How  is  all  this  related  ?  With 
the  same  absence  of  high  coloring  and  extravagant  descrip- 
tion with  which  other  writers  notice  the  ordinary  occurrences 
of  the  world  :  partly,  no  doubt,  for  the  like  reason,  that  they 
were  really  familiar  with  miracles ;  partly,  too,  because  to  them 
these  miracles  had  long  been  contemplated  only  as  subservient 
measures  to  the  great  object  and  business  of  their  ministry — 


62  Evidences  of  Christianity.  [Part  I. 

the  salvation  of  men's  sonls.  On  the  subject  of  miracles,  the 
means  to  this  great  end,  they  speak  in  calm,  unimpassioned 
language  ;  on  man's  sins,  change  of  heart,  on  hope,  faith,  and. 
charity  ;  on  the  objects,  in  short,  to  be  effected,  they  exhaust 
all  their  feelings  and  eloquence.  Their  history,  from  the  nar- 
rative of  our  Lord's  persecutions,  to  those  of  Paul,  the  abomi- 
nation of  the  Jews,  embraces  scenes  and  personages  which 
claim  from  the  ordinary  reader  a  continual  effusion  of  sorrow, 
or  wonder,  or  indignation.  In  writers  who  were  friends  of  the 
parties,  and  adherents  of  the  cause  for  which  they  did  and 
suffered  so  great  things,  the  absence  of  it  is  on  ordinary 
grounds  inconceivable.  Look  at  the  account  even  of  the  cruci- 
fixion. Not  one  burst  of  indignation  or  sympathy  mixes  witli 
the  details  of  the  narrative.  Stephen  the  first  martyr  is 
stoned,  and  the  account  comprised  in  these  few  words,  'ffhey 
stoned  Stephen,  calling  upon  God,  and  saying,  Lord  Jesus, 
receive  my  spirit.'  The  varied  and  immense  labors  and  suf- 
ferings of  the  Apostles  are  slightly  hinted  at,  or  else  related  in 
this  dry  and  frigid  way :  '  And  when  they  had  called  the 
Apostles,  and  beaten  them,  they  commanded  that  they  should 
not  speak  in  the  name  of  Jesus,  and  let  them  go.'  '  And  there 
came  thither  certain  Jews  from  Antioch  and  Iconium,  who  per- 
suaded the  people,  and  having  stoned  Paul,  drew  him  out  of 
the  city,  supposing  he  had  been  dead.  Howbeit,  as  the  dis- 
ciples stood  round  about  him,  he  rose  up,  and  came  into  the 
city  ;  and  the  next  day  he  departed  with  Barnabas  to  Derbe.' 

'And.  when  they  had  laid  many  stripes  upon  them,  they  east 
them  into  prison,  charging  the  jailer  to  keep  them  safely: 

'Who,  having  received  such  a  charge,  thrust  them  into  the 
inner  prison,  nnd  made  their  feet  fast  in  the  stocks. 

'And  at  midnight  Paul  and  Silas  prayed,  and  sang  praises 
unto  God  :   and  the  prisoners  heard  them. 

'  And  suddenly  there  was  a  great  earthquake,  so  that  the 
foundations  of  the  prison  were  shaken  :  and  in  1  mediately  all  the 
doors  were  opened,  and  every  one's  bands  were  loosed.' 

'Had  these  authors  no  feeling?  Had  their  mode  of  life 
bereaved  them  of  the  common  sympathies  and  sensibilities  of 
human  nature?  Pead  such  passages  as  St.  Paul's  parting 
address  to  the  elders  of  Miletus;  the  same  Apostle's  recom- 
mendation of  the  offending  member  of  the  Corinthian  Church 


Chap.  iv\]  Direct  Evidence  of  Sufferings.  63 

to  pardon  ;  and  more  than  all,  the  occasional  bursts  of  conflict- 
ing feeling,  in  which  anxious  apprehension  for  the  faith  and 
good  behavior  of  his  converts  is  mixed  with  the  pleasing  recol- 
lection of  their  conversion,  and  the  minister  and  the  man  are 
alike  strongly  displayed  ;  and  it  will  be  plain  that  Christianity 
exercised  no  benumbing  influence  on  the  heart.  No :  their 
whole  soul  was  occupied  with  one  object,  which  predominated 
over  the  means  subservient  to  it,  however  great  those  means 
might  be.  In  the  storm,  the  pilot's  eye  is  flxed  on  the  head- 
land which  must  be  weathered ;  in  the  crisis  of  victory  or  de- 
feat, the  general  sees  only  the  position  to  be  carried,  and  the 
dead  and  the  instruments  of  death  fall  around  him  unheeded. 
On  the  salvation  of  men,  on  this  one  point,  the  witnesses  of 
Christ  and  the  ministers  of  his  Spirit,  expended  all  their 
energy  of  feeling  and  expression.  All  that  occurred — mis- 
chance, persecution,  and  miracle — were  glanced  at  by  the  eye 
of  faith,  only  in  subserviency  to  this  mark  of  the  prize  of  their 
high  calling,  as  working  together  for  good,  and  all  exempt  from 
the  associations  which  would  attach  to  such  events  and  scenes, 
when  contemplated  by  themselves,  and  with  the  short-sighted- 
ness of  uninspired  men.  Miracles  were  not  to  them  objects  of 
wonder,  nor  mischances  a  subject  of  sorrow  and  lamentation. 
They  did  all,  they  suffered  all,  to  the  glory  of  God.' l 


CHAPTER  IV. 

There  is  satisfactory  evidence  that  many, professing  to  he  original 
witnesses  of  the  christian  miracles,  passed  their  lives  in 
labors,  dangers,  and  sufferings,  voluntarily  'undergone  in 
attestation  of  the  accounts  which  they  delivered,  and  solely 
in  consequence  of  their  belief  of  those  accounts  /  and  that 
they  also  submitted,  from  the  same  motives,  to  new  rules 
of  conduct. 

THE  account  of  the  treatment   of   the  religion   and  of  the 
exertions  of  its  first  preachers,  as  stated  in  our  scriptures 
(not  in  a  professed  history  of  persecutions,  or  in  the  connected 


1  London  Rcvieiv,  No.  II.  p.  346. 


64  Evidences  of  Christianity.  [Part  I. 

manner  in  which  I  am  about  so  recite  it,  but  clispersedly  and 
occasionally,  in  the  course  of  a  mixed  general  history,  which 
circumstance  alone  negatives  the  supposition  of  any  fraudulent 
design),  is  the  following:  'That  the  founder  of  Christianity, 
from  the  commencement  of   his  ministry  to  the  time  of  his 
violent  death,  employed  himself  wholly  in  publishing  the  in- 
stitution in  Judea  and  Galilee;  that,  in  order  to  assist  him  in 
this  purpose,   he  made  choice,  out  of  the  number  of  his  fol- 
lowers of  twelve  persons,  who  might  accompany  him  as  he 
travelled  from  place  to  place ;  that,  except  a  short  absence  upon 
a  journey,  in  which  he  sent  them,  two  by  two,  to  announce 
his  mission,  and  one,  of  a  few  days,  when  they  went  before  him 
to  Jerusalem,  these  persons  were  statedly  and  constantly  attend- 
ing upon  him ;  that  they  were  with  him  at  Jerusalem  when 
he  was  apprehended  and  put  to  death ;  and  that  they  ^ere 
commissioned  by  him,  when  his  own  ministry  was  concluded, 
to  publish  his  gospel,  and  collect  disciples  to  it  from  all  coun- 
tries of  the  world.'     The  account  then  proceeds  to  state,  '  That, 
a  few  days  after  his  departure,  these  persons,  with  some  of  his 
relations,  and  some  who  had  regularly  frequented  their  society, 
assembled  at  Jerusalem ;  that,  considering  the  office  of  preach- 
ing the  religion  as  now  devolved  upon  them,  and  one  of  their 
number  having  deserted  the  cause,  and,  repenting  of  his  perfidy, 
having  destroyed  himself,  they  proceeded  to  elect  another  into 
his  place ;  and  that  they  were  careful  to  make  their  election 
out  of  the  number  of  those  who  had  accompanied  their  master 
from  the  first  to  the  last,   in  order,  as  they  alleged,  that  he 
might  be  a  witness,  together  with  themselves,  of  the  principal 
facts  which  they  were  about  to  produce  and  relate  concerning 
him;1  that  they  began  their  work  at  Jerusalem,  by  publicly 
asserting  that  this  Jesus,  whom  the  rulers  and  inhabitants  of 
that  place   had  so  lately  crucified,  was,  in  truth,  the  person  in 
whom  all  their  prophecies  and  long  expectations  terminated; 
that  he  had  been  sent  amongst  them  by  God;  and  that  he  was 
appointed  by  God  the  future  judge  of  the  human  species  ;  that 
all  who  were  solicitous  to  secure  to  themselves  happiness  after 
death,  ought  to  receive  him  as  such,  and  to  make  profession  of 
their  belief,  by  being  baptized  in  his  name.'2      The  history 

1  Acta  i.  21,  22.  s  Acts  xi. 


Chap,  i  v.]  Direct  Evidence  of  Sufferings.  65 

goes   on   to  relate,  'that  considerable   numbers  accepted  this 
proposal,  and  that  they  who  did  so,  formed  amongst  themselves 
a  strict  union  and  society  ;!  that,  the  attention  of  the  Jewish 
government  being  soon  drawn  upon  them,  two  of  the  principal 
persons  of  the  twelve,  and  who  also  had  lived  most  intimately 
and  constantly  with  the  founder  of  the  religion,  were  seized  as 
they  were  discoursing  to  the  people  in  the  temple  ;  that,  after 
being  kept  all  night  in  prison,  they  were  brought  the  next 
day  before  an  assembly,  composed  of  the  chief  persons  of  the 
Jewish  magistracy  and  priesthood ;   that  this  assembly,  after 
some  consultation,  found  nothing,  at  that  time,  better  to  be 
done  towards  suppressing    the   growth  of  the    sect,    than    to 
threaten    their  prisoners  with  punishment,  if   they  persisted  5 
that  these  men,  after  expressing,  in  decent  but  firm  language, 
the  obligation  under  which  they  considered  themselves  to  be, 
to  declare  what  they  knew,  '  to  speak  the  things  which  they 
had  seen  and  heard,'  returned  from  the  council,  and  reported 
what  had  passed  to  their  companions  ;  that  this  report,  whilst 
it  apprized  them  of  the  danger  of  their  situation  and  under- 
taking, had  no  other  effect  upon  their  conduct  than  to  produce 
in  them  a  general  resolution  to  persevere,  and  an  earnest  prayer 
to  God  to  furnish  them  with  assistance,  and  to  inspire  them 
with  fortitude,  proportioned  to  the  increasing  exigency  of  the 
service.'2     A  very  short  time  after  this,  we  read  '  that  all  the 
twelve  apostles  were  seized  and  cast  into  prison  ;3  that,  being 
brought  a  second  time  before  the  Jewish  Sanhedrim,  they  were 
upbraided  with  their  disobedience  to  the  injunction  which  had 
been  laid  upon  them,  and  beaten  for  their  contumacy  ;  that 
being  charged  once  more  to  desist,  they  were  suffered  to  depart ; 
that  however  they  neither  quitted  Jerusalem,  nor  ceased  from 
preaching,  both  daily  in  the  temple,  and  from  house  to  house  ;4 
and  that  the  twelve  considered  themselves  as  so  entirely  and 
exclusively  devoted  to  this  office,  that  they  now  transferred 
what  may  be  called  the  temporal  affairs  of  the  society  to  other 
hands.' 5 


1  Acts  v.  41.  2  Acts  iv.  s  Acts  v.  18.  *  Acts  v. 

*  I  do  not  know  that  it  has  ever  been  insinuated  that  the  Christian  mission,  in 
the  hands  of  the  apostles,  was  a  scheme  for  making  a  fortune,  or  for  getting  money. 
But  it  may  nevertheless  be  fit  to  remark  upon  this  passage  of  their  history,  how 
perfectly  free  they  appear  to  have  been  from  any  pecuniary  or  interested  views  what- 

5 


66  Evidences  of  Christianity.  [Part  I. 

Hitherto  the  preachers  of  the  new  religion  seem  to  have 
had  the  common  people  on  their  side  ;  which  is  assigned  as  the 
reason  why  the  Jewish  rulers  did  not,  at  this  time,  think  it 
prudent  to  proceed  to  greater  extremities.  It  was  not  long, 
however,  before  the  enemies  of  the  institution  found  means  to 
represent  it  to  the  people  as  tending  to  subvert  their  law,  de- 
grade their  lawgiver,  and  dishonor  their  temple.1  And  these 
insinuations  were  dispersed  with  so  much  success,  as  to  induce 
the  people  to  join  with  their  superiors  in  the  stoning  of  a  very 
active  member  of  the  new  community. 

The  death  of  this  man  was  the  signal  of  a  general  persecu- 
tion, the  activity  of  which  may  be  judged  of  from  one  anecdote 
of  the  time  :  '  As  for  Saul,  he  made  havoc  of  the  church,  enter- 
ing into  every  house,  and  haling  men  and  women,  committed 
them  to  prison.'  This  persecution2  raged  at  Jerusalem  with  so 
much  fury,  as  to  drive3  most  of  the  new  converts  out  of  the 
place,  except  the  twelve  apostles.  The  converts,  thus  '  scatter- 
ed abroad,'  preached  the  religion  wherever  they  came  :  and 
their  preaching  M-as,  in  effect,  the  preaching  of  the  twelve  ; 
for  it  was  so  far  carried  on  in  concert  and  correspondence  with 
them,  that,  when  they  heard  of  the  success  of  their  emissaries  in 
a  particular  country,  they  sent  two  of  their  number  to  the  place 
to  complete  and  confirm  the  mission. 

An  event  now  took  place  of  great  importance  in  the  future 


ever.  The  most  tempting  opportunity  which  occurred,  of  making  a  gain  of  their 
converts,  was  by  the  custody  ami  management  of  the  public  funds,  when  some  of 
the  richer  members,  intending  to  contribute  their  fortunes  to  the  common  sup- 
port of  the  society,  sold  their  possessions,  and  laid  down  the  prices  at  the  apos- 
tles' feet.  Vet  so  insensible,  or  undesirous,  were  they  of  the  advantage  which 
thai  confidence  afforded,  that,  we  find,  they  very  soon  disposed  of  the  trust,  by 
putting  it  into  the  hands,  not  of  nominees  of  their  own,  but  of  stewards  formally 
eleeted  tor  the  pm  pose  by  the  society  at  large. 

We  may  add  also,  that  this  excess  of  generosity,  which  cast  private  property 
into  the  public  stock,  was  so  far  from  being  required  by  the  apostles,  or  imposed 
as  a  law  of  Christianity,  that  Peter  reminds  Ananias  that  he  had  been  guilty,  in 
his  behavior,  of  an  officious  and  voluntary  prevarication  ;  for  whilst,  says  he, 
thy  estate  remained  unsold,  '  was  it  not  thine  own  ?  and,  after  it  was  sold,  was 
it  not  in  thine  own  power  ?' 

1  Acts  vi.  12.  a  Acts  viii.  3. 

3  Acts  viii.  1.  'And  they  were  all  scattered  abroad  ;'  but  the  term  'all'  is 
not,  I  think,  to  be  taken  strictly,  or  as  denoting  more  than  the  generality ;  in  like 
manner  as  in  Acts  ix.  :;."> — '  And  all  that  dwelt  at  Lydda  and  Saron  saw  him,  and 
tinned  to  the  Lord.' 


Chap  iv.]  Direct  Evidence  of  Sufferings.  67 

history  of  the  religion.  The  persecution1  which  had  begun 
at  Jerusalem  followed  the  Christians  to  other  cities,  in  which 
the  authority  of  the  Jewish  Sanhedrim  over  those  of  their 
own  nation  was  allowed  to  be  exercised.  A  young  man,  who 
had  signalized  himself  by  his  hostility  to  the  profession,  and 
had  procured  a  commission  from  the  council  at  Jerusalem  to 
seize  any  converted  Jews  whom  he  might  find  at  Damascus, 
suddenly  became  a  proselyte  to  the  religion  which  he  was 
going  about  to  extirpate.  The  new  convert  not  only  shared, 
upon  this  extraordinary  change,  the  fate  of  his  companions,  but 
brought  upon  himself  a  double  measure  of  enmity  from  the 
party  which  he  had  left.  The  Jews  at  Damascus,  upon  his 
return  to  that  city,  watched  the  gates  night  and  day  with  so 
much  diligence,  that  he  escaped  from  their  hands  only  by 
being  let  down  in  a  basket  by  the  wall.  Nor  did  he  find  him- 
self in  greater  safety  at  Jerusalem,  whither  he  immediately 
repaired.  Attempts  were  there  also  soon  set  on  foot  to  destroy 
him  ;  from  the  danger  of  which  he  was  preserved  by  being  sent 
away  to  Cilicia,  his  native  country. 

For  some  reason,  not  mentioned,  perhaps  not  known,  but 
probably  connected  with  the  civil  history  of  the  Jews,  or  with 
some  danger2  which  engrossed  the  public  attention,  an  inter- 
mission about  this  time  took  place  in  the  sufferings  of  the 
Christians.  This  happened  at  the  most  only  seven  or  eight, 
perhaps  only  three  or  four,  years  after  Christ's  death.  Within 
which  period,  and  notwithstanding  that  the  late  persecution 
occupied  part  of  it,  churches,  or  societies  of  believers,  had  been 
formed  in  all  Judea,  Galilee,  and  Samaria  ;  for  we  read  that  the 
churches  in  these  countries  '  had  now  rest,  and  were  edified, 
and,  walking  in  the  fear  of  the  Lord,  and  in  the  comfort  of 
the  Holy  Ghost,  were  multiplied.'3  The  original  preachers  of 
the  religion  did  not  remit  their  labors  or  activity  during  this 
season  of  quietness ;  for  we  find  one,  and  he  a  very  principal 


1  Acts  ix. 
2  Dr.  Lardner  (in  which  he  is  followed  also  by  Dr.  Benson)  ascribes  this  cessa- 
tion of  the  persecution  of  the  Christians  to  the  attempt  of  Caligula  to  set  up 
his  own  statue  in  the  Temple  of  Jerusalem,  and  to  the  consternation  thereby 
excited  in  the  minds  of  the  Jewish  people  ;  which  consternation  for  a  season  sus- 
pended every  other  contest. 

3  Acts  ix.  31. 


68  Evidences  of  Christianity.  [Part  I. 

person  amongst  them,  passing  throughout  all  quarters.  We 
find  also  those  who  had  been  before  expelled  from  Jerusalem 
by  the  persecution  which  raged  there,  travelling  as  far  as 
Phcenice,  Cyprus,  and  Antioch  ;!  and,  lastly,  we  find  Jerusalem 
again  the  centre  of  the  mission,  the  place  whither  the  preachers 
returned  from  their  several  excursions,  where  they  reported  the 
conduct  and  effects  of  their  ministry,  where  questions  of  public 
concern  were  canvassed  and  settled,  from  whence  directions 
were  sought,  and  teachers  sent  forth. 

The  time  of  this  tranquillity  did  not,  however,  continue 
long.  Herod  Agrippa,  who  had  lately  acceded  to  the  govern- 
ment of  Judea,  '  stretched  forth  his  hand  to  vex  certain  of  the 
church.' 2  He  began  his  cruelty  by  beheading  one  of  the  twelve 
original  apostles,  a  kinsman  and  constant  companion  of  the 
founder  of  the  religion.  Perceiving  that  this  execution  gratified, 
the  Jews,  he  proceeded  to  seize,  in  order  to  put  to  death, 
another  of  the  number  ;  and  him,  like  the  former,  associated 
with  Christ  during  his  life,  and  eminently  active  in  the  service 
since  his  death.  This  man  was,  however,  delivered  from  prison, 
as  the  account  states,3  miraculously,  and  made  his  escape  from 
Jerusalem. 

These  things  are  related,  not  in  the  general  terms  under 
which,  in  giving  the  outlines  of  the  history,  we  have  here  men- 
tioned them,  but  with  the  utmost  particularity  of  names, 
persons,  places,  and  circumstances  ;  and,  what  is  deserving  of 
notice,  without  the  smallest  discoverable  propensity  in  the 
historian  to  magnify  the  fortitude,  or  exaggerate  the  sufferings, 
of  his  party.  When  they  fled  for  their  lives,  he  tells  us. 
When  the  churches  had  rest,  he  remarks  it.  When  the  people 
took  their  part,  he  does  not  leave  it  without  notice.  When 
the  apostles  were  carried  a  second  time  before  the  Sanhedrim, 
lie  is  careful  toobserve  that  thev  were  brought  without  violence. 
When  milder  counsels  were  suggested,  he  gives  us  the  author 
of  the  advice,  and  the  speech  which  contained  it.  AVhen,  in 
consequence  of  this  advice,  the  rulers  contented  themselves 
with  threatening  the  apostles,  and  commanding  them  to  be 
beaten  with  stripes,  without  urging  at  that  time  the  persecution 


1  Acts  xi.  19.  aActsxii.l.  8  Acts  xii.  3-17. 


Chap,  iv.]  Direct  Evidence  of  Sufferings.  69 

farther,  the  historian  candidly  and  distinctly  records  their  for- 
bearance. When,  therefore,  in  other  instances,  he  states 
heavier  persecutions,  or  actual  martyrdoms,  it  is  reasonable  to 
believe  that  he  states  them  because  they  were  true  ;  and  not 
from  any  wish  to  aggravate,  in  his  account,  the  sufferings  which 
Christians  sustained,  or  to  extol,  more  than  it  deserved,  their 
patience  under  thern. 

Our  history  now  pursues  a  narrower  path.  Leaving  the 
rest  of  the  apostles,  and  the  original  associates  of  Christ,  en- 
gaged in  the  propagation  of  the  new  faith  (and  who  there  is  not 
the  least  reason  to  believe  abated  in  their  diligence  or  courage), 
the  narrative  proceeds  with  the  separate  memoirs  of  that 
eminent  teacher,  whose  extraordinary  and  sudden  conversion 
to  the  religion,  and  corresponding  change  of  conduct,  had  before 
been  circumstantially  described.  This  person,  in  conjunction 
with  another,  who  appeared  amongst  the  earliest  members  of 
the  society  at  Jerusalem,  and  amongst  the  immediate  adherents1 
of  the  twelve  apostles,  set  out  from  Antioch  upon  the  express 
business  of  carrying  the  new  religion  through  the  various  pro- 
vinces of  the  Lesser  Asia.2  During  this  expedition  we  find,  that 
in  almost  every  place  to  which  they  came,  their  persons  were 
insulted,  and  their  lives  endangered.  After  being  expelled  from 
Antioch  in  Pisidia,  they  repaired  to  Iconinm.3  At  Iconium  an 
attempt  was  made  to  stone  them.  At  Lystra,  whither  they 
fled  from  Iconium,  one  of  them  actually  was  stoned,  and  drawn 
out  of  the  city  for  dead.4  These  two  men,  though  not  them- 
selves original  apostles,  were  acting  in  connection  and  conjunc- 
tion with  the  original  apostles ;  for,  after  the  completion  of 
their  journey,  being  sent  upon  a  particular  commission  to 
Jerusalem,  they  there  related  to  the  apostles 5  and  elders  the 
events  and  success  of  their  ministry,  and  were,  in  return,  re- 
commended by  them  to  the  churches,  '  as  men  who  had 
hazarded  their  lives  in  the  cause.' 

The  treatment  which  they  had  experienced  in  the  first 
progress,  did  not  deter  them  from  preparing  for  a  second. 
Upon  a  dispute,  however,  arising  between  them,  but  not  con- 
nected with  the  common  subject  of  their  labors,  they  acted  as 


1  Acts  iv.  36.  2  Acts  xiii.  2.  3  Acts  xiii.  50. 

5  Acts  xv.  12-26. 


70  Evidences  of  Christianity.  [Part  I. 

wise  and  sincere  men  would  act :  thev  did  not  retire  in  disgust 
from  the  service  in  which  they  were  engaged,  but,  each  devoting 
his  endeavors  to  the  advancement  of  the  religion,  they  parted 
from  one    another,   and    set   forwards   upon  separate   routes. 
The   history  goes   along  with  one  of  them  ;    and  the  second 
enterprise  to  him  was  attended  with  the  same  dangers  and  per- 
secutions as  both   had   met  with  in  the  first.     The   apostle's 
travels  hitherto  had  been  confined  to  Asia.     He  now  crosses, 
for   the  first   time,  the  ./Egean    Sea,    and    carries  with    him, 
amongst  others,  the  person  whose  accounts  supply  the  infor- 
mation we  are  stating.1     The  first  place  in  Greece  at  which  he 
appears  to  have  stopped  was   Philippi  in  Macedonia.     Here 
himself  and  one  of  his  companions  were  cruelly  whipped,-  cast 
into  prison,  and  kept  there  under  the  most  rigorous  custody^ 
being  thrust,  whilst  yet  smarting  with  their  wounds,  into  tha 
inner  dungeon,  and  their  feet  made  fast  in  the  stocks.2     Not- 
withstanding this  unequivocal  specimen  of  the  usage  which  they 
had  to  look  for  in   that  country,  they  went   forward   in  the 
execution  of  their  errand.     After  passing  through  Amphipolis 
and  Apollonia,  they  came  to  Thessalonica ;  in  which  city  the 
house  in  which  they  lodged  was  assailed  by  a  party  of  their 
enemies,  in  order  to  bring  them  out  to  the  populace.     And 
when,  fortunately  for  their  preservation,  they  were  not  found 
at  home,  the  master  of  the  house  was  dragged  before  the  magis- 
trate for  admitting  them  within  his  doors.3   Their  reception  at  the 
next  city  was  something  better;  but  neither  here  had  they  con- 
tinued long  before  their  turbulent  adversaries,  the  Jews,  excited 
against   them  such   commotions    amongst   the  inhabitants,  as 
obliged  tlif  apostle  to  make  hi-  escape  by  a  private  journey  to 
At  liens.1     The   extremity  of  the  progress  was  Corinth.     His 
abode  in  this  city,  for  some  time,  seems  to  have  been  without 
molestation.      At   length,  however,  the  Jews  found  means  to 
-tii- up  an   insnrrectioD  against  him,  and  to  bring  him  before 
the  tribunal  of  the  Roman  president.5    It  was  to  the  contempt 
which  thai   magistrate  entertained  for  the  .lews  and  their  con- 
troversies, of  which  he  accounted  Christianity  to  be  one,  that 
our  apostle  owed  bis  deliverance.6 


1  Acts  xvi.  11.  ^  v.  23,  24,  33.  »  Acts  xvii.  1-5. 

4  V.  13.  »  Acts  xviii.  12.  »  V.  18. 


Chap,  i  v.]  Direct  Evidence  of  Sufferings.  71 

This  indefatigable  teacher,  after  leaving  Corinth,  returned  by 
Ephesus  into  Syria ;  and  again  visited  Jerusalem,  and  the 
society  of  Christians  in  that  city,  which,  as  hath  been  repeatedly 
observed,  still  continued  the  centre  of  the  mission.1  It  suited 
not,  however,  with  the  activity  of  his  zeal  to  remain  long  at 
Jerusalem.  We  find  him  going  from  thence  to  Antioch,  and, 
after  some  stay  there,  traversing  once  more  the  northern  pro- 
vinces of  Asia  Minor.2  This  progress  ended  at  Ephesus ;  in 
which  city  the  apostle  continued  in  the  daily  exercise  of  his 
ministry  two  years,  and  until  his  success,  at  length,  excited  the 
apprehensions  of  those  who  were  interested  in  the  support  of 
the  national  worship.  Their  clamor  produced  a  tumult,  in 
which  he  had  nearly  lost  his  life.3  Undismayed,  however,  by 
the  dangers  to  which  he  saw  himself  exposed,  he  was  driven 
from  Ephesus  only  to  renew  his  labors  in  Greece.4  After 
passing  over  Macedonia,  he  thence  proceeded  to  his  former 
station  at  Corinth.5  When  he  had  formed  his  design  of  return- 
ing by  a  direct  course  from  Corinth  into  Syria,  he  was  com- 
pelled by  a  conspiracy  of  the  Jews,  who  were  prepared  to 
intercept  him  on  his  way,  to  trace  back  his  steps  through 
Macedonia  to  Philippi,  and  from  thence  to  take  shipping  into 
Asia.  Along  the  coast  of  Asia  he  pursued  his  voyage  with  all 
the  expedition  he  could  command,  in  order  to  reach  Jerusalem 
against  the  feast  of  Pentecost.6  His  reception  at  Jerusalem 
was  of  a  piece  with  the  usage  he  had  experienced  from  the  Jews 
in  other  places.  He  had  been  only  a  few  days  in  that  city 
when  the  populace,  instigated  by  some  of  his  old  opponents  in 
Asia,  who  attended  this  feast,  seized  him  in  the  temple,  forced 
him  out  of  it,  and  were  ready  immediately  to  have  destroyed 
him,  had  not  the  sudden  presence  of  the  Eoman  guard  rescued 
him  out  of  their  hands.7  The  officer,  however,  who  had  thus 
seasonably  interposed,  acted  from  his  care  of  the  public  peace, 
with  the  preservation  of  which  he  was  charged,  and  not  from 
any  favor  to  the  apostle,  or  indeed  any  disposition  to  exercise 
either  justice  or  humanity  towards  him  ;  for  he  had  no  sooner 
secured  his  person  in  the  fortress,  than  he  was  proceeding  to 
examine  him  by  torture.8 

1  Acts  xviii.  22.  2  V.  23.  3  Acts  xix.  1,  9,  10. 

4  V.  29,  31.  6  V.  1.  «  V.  16. 

7  Acts  xxi.  27-33.  »  Acts  xxii.  12,  24. 


72  Evidences  of  Christianity.  [Part  I. 

From  this  time  to  the  conclusion  of  the  history,  the  apostle 
remains  in  public  custody  of  the  Roman  government.  After 
escaping  assassination  by  a  fortunate  discovery  of  the  plot,  and 
delivering  himself  from  the  influence  of  his  enemies  by  an 
appeal  to  the  audience  of  the  emperor,1  he  was  sent,  but  not 
until  he  had  suffered  two  years'  imprisonment,  to  Rome.2  lie 
reached  Italy  after  a  tedious  voyage,  and  after  encountering  in 
his  passage  the  perils  of  a  desperate  shipwreck.3  But  although 
still  a  prisoner,  and  his  fate  still  depending,  neither  the  various 
and  long-continued  sufferings  which  he  had  undergone,  nor  the 
danger  of  his  present  situation,  deterred  him  from  persisting  in 
preaching  the  religion  ;  for  the  historian  closes  the  account  by 
telling  us,  that,  for  two  years,  he  received  all  that  came  unto 
him  in  his  own  hired  house,  where  he  was  permitted  to  '(Jwell 
with  a  soldier  that  guarded  him,  'preaching  the  kingdom  r)f 
God,  and  teaching  those  things  which  concern  the  Lord  Jesifcs 
Christ,  with  all  confidence.' 

Now  the  historian,  from  whom  we  have  drawn  this  account, 
m  the  part  of  his  narrative  which  relates  to  St.  Paul,  is  sup- 
ported by  the  strongest  corroborating  testimony  that  a  history 
can  receive.  We  are  in  possession  of  letters  written  by  St. 
Paul  himself  upon  the  subject  of  his  ministry,  and  either 
written  during  the  period  which  the  history  comprises,  or,  if 
written  afterwards,  reciting  and  referring  to  the  transactions  of 
thai  period.  These  letters,  without  borrowing  from  the  history, 
or  the  history  from  them,  unintentionally  confirm  the  account 
which  the  history  delivers  in  a  great  variety  of  particulars. 
"What  belongs  to  our  present  purpose  is  the  description  exhi- 
bited of  the  apostle's  sufferings;  and  the  representation,  given 
in  the  history,  of  the  dangers  and  distresses  which  he  under- 
went, not  only  agrees,  in  general,  with  the  language  which  he 
himself  uses  whenever  he  speaks  of  his  life  or  ministry,  but  is 
also,  in  many  instances,  attested  by  a  specific  correspondency  of 
time,  place,  and  order  of  events.  If  the  historian  puts  down 
in  his  narrative  that  at  Philippi  the  apostle  'was  beaten  with 
many  stripe-,  casl  into  prison,  and  there  treated  with  rigor  and 
indignity,'4  we  find  him,  in  a  letter5  to  a  neighboring  church, 


1  Acts  x.w.  9,  11.  3  Acts  xxiv.  T,  »  Acts  xxvii. 

'  Arts  xvi.  24.  6  1  Thess.  ii.  2. 


Chap.  iv\]  Direct  Evidence  of  Sufferings.  73 

reminding  his  converts,  that,  'after  he  had  suffered  before,  and 
was  shamefully  entreated  at  Philippi,  he  was  bold,  nevertheless, 
to  speak  unto  them  (to  whose  city  he  next  came)  the  Gospel  of 
God.'  If  the  history  relate,1  that  at  Thessalonica,  the  house  in 
which  the  apostle  was  lodged,  when  he  first  came  to  that 
place,  was  assaulted  by  the  populace,  and  the  master  of  it 
dragged  before  the  magistrate  for  admitting  such  a  guest  within 
his  doors,  the  apostle,  in  his  letters  to  the  Christians  of 
Thessalonica,  calls  to  their  remembrance  'how  they  had  re- 
ceived the  Gospel  in  much  affliction.' 2  If  the  history  deliver 
an  account  of  an  insurrection  at  Ephesus,  which  had  nearly 
cost  the  apostle  his  life,  we  have  the  apostle  himself,  in  a  letter 
written  a  short  time  after  his  departure  from  that  city,  de- 
scribing his  despair,  and  returning  thanks  for  his  deliverance.3 
If  the  history  inform  us,  that  the  apostle  was  expelled  from 
Antioch  in  Pisidia,  attempted  to  be  stoned  at  Iconiuin,  and 
actually  stoned  at  Lystra,  there  is  preserved  a  letter  from  him  to 
a  favorite  convert,  whom,  as  the  same  history  tells  us,  he  first 
met  with  in  these  parts ;  in  which  letter  he  appeals  to  that 
disciple's  knowledge  'of  the  persecutions  which  befell  him  at 
Antioch,  at  Iconium,  at  Lystra.'4  If  the  history  make  the 
apostle,  in  his  speech  to  the  Ephesian  elders,  remind  them,  as 
one  proof  of  the  disinterestedness  of  his  views,  that,  to  their 
knowledge,  he  had  supplied  his  own  and  the  necessities  of  his 
companions  by  personal  labor,5  we  find  the  same  apostle,  in 
a  letter  written  during  his  residence  at  Ephesus,  asserting  of 
himself,  '  that  even  to  that  hour  he  labored,  working  with  his 
own  hands.'6 

These  coincidences,  together  with  many  relative  to  other  * 
parts  of  the  apostle's  history,  and  all  drawn  from  independent 
sources,  not  only  confirm  the  truth  of  the  account  in  the  par- 
ticular points  as  to  which  they  are  observed,  but  add  much  to 
the  credit  of  the  narrative  in  all  its  parts;  and  support  the 
author's  profession  of  being  a  contemporary  of  the  person  whose 
history  he  writes,  and,  throughout  a  material  portion  of  his  nar- 
rative, a  companion. 


1  Acts  xvii.  57.  2  1  Thess.  i.  6.  3  Acts  xix.     2  Cor.  i.  8,  9. 

4  Acts  xiii.  50.     xix.  5, 19.     2  Tim.  iii.  10,  11.  «  Acts  xx.  34, 

8  1  Cor.  iv.  11,  12. 


74  Evidences  of  Christianity.  [Part  I. 

What  the  epistles  of  the  apostles  declare  of  the  suffering 
state  of  Christianity,  the  writings  which  remain  of  their  com- 
panions and  immediate  followers  expressly  confirm. 

Clement,  who  is  honorably  mentioned  by  St.  Paul  in  his 
epistle  to  the  Philippians,1  has  left  us  his  attestation  to  this 
point  in  the  following  words :  '  Let  us  take  [says  he]  the 
examples  of  our  own  age.  Through  zeal  and  envy  the  most 
faithful  and  righteous  pillars  of  the  church  have  been  persecuted 
even  to  the  most  grievous  deaths.  Let  us  set  before  our  eyes 
the  holy  apostles.  Peter,  by  unjust  envy,  underwent,  not  one 
or  two,  but  many  sufferings ;  till  at  last  being  martyred,  he 
went  to  the  place  of  glory  that  was  due  unto  him.  For  the 
same  cause  did  Paul,  in  like  manner,  receive  the  reward  of  his 
patience.  Seven  times  he  was  in  bonds ;  he  was  whipped,  was 
stoned ;  he  preached  both  in  the  east  and  in  the  west,  leaving 
behind  him  the  glorious  report  of  his  faith;  and  so  haviag 
taught  the  whole  world  righteousness,  and  for  that  end  travelled 
even  unto  the  utmost  bounds  of  the  west,  he  at  last  suffered 
martyrdom  by  the  command  of  the  governors,  and  departed 
out  of  the  world,  and  went  unto  his  holy  place,  being  become 
a  most  eminent  pattern  of  patience  unto  all  ages.  To  these 
holy  apostles  were  joined  a  very  great  number  of  others,  who, 
having  through  envy  undergone,  in  like  manner,  many  pains 
and  torments,  have  left  a  glorious  example  to  us.  For  this, 
not  only  men,  but  women,  have  been  persecuted;  and,  having 
suffered  very  grievous  and  cruel  punishments,  have  finished 
the  ourse  of  their  faith  with  firmness.'2 

Hernias,  saluted  by  St.  Paul  in  his  Epistle  to  the  Komans, 
in  a  piece  very  little  connected  with  historical  recitals,  thus 
speaks :  '  Such  as  have  believed  and  Buffered  death  for  the 
name  of  Christ,  and  have  endured  with  a  ready  mind,  and  have 
given  up  their  lives  with  all  their  hearts.'3 

Polycarp,  the  disciple  of  John,  though  all  that  remains  of 
his  works  be  a  very  short  epistle,  has  not  left  this  subject  un- 
noticed.— k  I  exhort  [says  he]  all  of  you,  that  ye  obey  the  word 
of  righteousness,  and  exercise  all  patience,  which  ye  have  seen 
set  forth   before  your  eyes,  not  only  in  the  blessed  Ignatius, 


1  Philip,  iv.  3.  2  Clem.  adCor.  c.  v.  vi.     Abp.  Wake's  trans. 

''  Shepherd  of  Hermas,  c.  xxviii. 


Chap,  iv.]  Direct  Evidence  of  Sufferings.  75 

and  Lorimus  and  Rufus,  but  in  others  among  yourselves,  and 
in  Paul  himself  and  the  rest  of  the  apostles  ;  being  confident 
in  this,  that  all  these  have  not  run  in  vain,  but  in  faith  and 
righteousness ;  and  are  gone  to  the  place  that  was  due  to  them 
from  the  Lord,  with  whom  also  they  suffered.  For  they  loved 
not  this  present  world,  but  him  who  died  and  was  raised  again 
by  God  for  us.' 1 

Ignatius,  the  contemporary  of  Polycarp,  recognizes  the  same 
topic,  briefly  indeed,  but  positively  aud  precisely.  '  For  this 
cause  [i.  e.  for  having  felt  and  handled  Christ's  body  after  his 
resurrection,  and  being  convinced,  as  Ignatius  expresses  it,  both 
by  his  flesh  and  spirit],  they  [*.  e.  Peter,  and  those  who  were 
present  with  Peter  at  Christ's  appearance]  despised  death,  and 
were  found  to  be  above  it.'2 

Would  the  reader  know  what  a  persecution  in  these  days 
was,  I  would  refer  him  to  a  circular  letter,  written  by  the 
church  of  Smyrna  soon  after  the  death  of  Polycarp,  who,  it 
will  be  remembered,  had  lived  with  St.  John  ;  and  which  letter 
is  entitled  a  relation  of  that  bishop's  martyrdom.  '  The  suf- 
ferings [say  they]  of  all  the  other  martyrs  were  blessed  and 
generous,  which  they  underwent  according  to  the  will  of  God. 
For  so  it  becomes  us,  who  are  more  religious  than  others,  to 
ascribe  the  power  and  ordering  of  all  things  unto  him.  And 
indeed  who  can  choose  but  admire  the  greatness  of  their  minds, 
and  that  admirable  patience  and  love  of  their  master,  which 
then  appeared  in  them  ?  who,  when  they  were  so  flayed  with 
whipping,  that  the  frame  and  structure  of  their  bodies  were 
laid  open  to  their  very  inward  veins  and  arteries,  nevertheless 
endured  it.  In  like  manner,  those  who  were  condemned  to  the 
beasts,  and  kept  a  long  time  in  prison,  underwent  many  cruel 
torments,  being  forced  to  lie  upon  sharp  spikes  laid  under  their 
bodies,  and  tormented  with  divers  other  sorts  of  punishments ; 
that  so,  if  it  were  possible,  the  tyrant,  by  the  length  of  their 
sufferings,  might  have  brought  them  to  deny  Christ.3 


1  Pol.  ad  Phil.  c.  ix.  a  19  Ep.  Smyr.  c.  iii.  3  Ed.  Mot.  Pol.  c.  ii. 


76  Evidences  of  Christianity.  [Part  I. 


CHAPTER   Y. 

There  is  satisfactory  evidence  that  many ,  professing  to  have  been 
original  witnesses  of  the  christian  miracles, passed  their  lives 
in  labors,  dangers,  and  sufferings,  voluntarily  undergone  in 
attestation  of  the  accounts  which  they  delivered,  and  solely 
in  consequence  of  their  belief  of  those  accounts  /  and  that 
they  also  submitted,  from  the  same  motives,  to  new  rules  of 
conduct. 

UPON  the  history,  of  which  the  last  chapter  contains  an 
abstract,  there  are  a  few  observations  which  it  may  be 
proper  to  make,  by  way  of  applying  its  testimony  to  the  parti- 
cular propositions  for  which  we  contend. 

I.  Although  our  scripture  history  Leaves  the  general  account 
of  the  apostles  in  an  early  part  of  the  narrative,  and  proceeds 
with  the  separate  account  of  one  particular  apostle,  yet  the 
information  which  it  delivers  so  far  extends  to  the  rest,  as  it 
shows  the  nature  of  the  service.  When  we  see  one  apostle  suf- 
fering persecution  in  the  discharge  of  his  commission,  we  shall 
not  believe,  without  evidence,  that  the  same  office  could,  at 
the  same  time,  be  attended  with  ease  and  safety  to  others. 
And  this  fair  and  reasonable  inference  is  confirmed  by  the  direct 
attestation  of  the  letters,  to  which  we  have  so  often  referred. 
The  writer  of  these  letters  not  only  alludes,  in  numerous  pas- 
sages, to  his  own  sufferings,  but  speaks  of  the  rest  of  the 
apostles  as  enduring  like  sufferings  with  himself.  'I  think 
that  God  hath  set  forth  us  f/o  a/postles  last,  as  it  were,  ap- 
pointed to  death  ;  for  we  are  made  a  spectacle  unto  the  world, 
and  to  angels,  and  to  men  :  even  unto  this  present  hour,  we 
both  hunger  and  thirst,  and  are  naked,  and  are  buffeted,  and 
have  no  certain  dwelling-place ;  and  labor,  working  with  our 
own  hands  :  being  reviled,  we  l>les> ;  being  persecuted,  we  suffer 
it;  beiner  defamed,  we  entreai  :  we  are  made  as  the  filth  of  the 
Id,  and  as  the  offscouring  of  all  things  unto  this  day.'1  Add 
to  which,  that  in  the  short  account  that  is  given  of  the  other 

1   1  Cor.  iv.  et  seq. 


Chap,  v.]         Observations  on  the  above  Evicl <  m^e .  77   ■ 

apostles,  in  the  former  part  of  the  history,  and  within  the  sho-t 
period  which  that  account  comprises,  we  find,  first,  two  of  them 
seized,  imprisoned,  brought  before  the  Sanhedrim,  and  threat- 
ened with  further  punishment;1  then,  the  whole  number  im- 
prisoned and  beaten  : 2  soon  afterwards  one  of  their  adherents 
stoned  to  death,  and  so  hot  a  persecution  raised  against  the 
sect,  as  to  drive  most  of  them  out  of  the  place ;  a  short  time 
only  succeeding,  before  one  of  the  twelve  was  beheaded,  and 
another  sentenced  to  the  same  fate  ;  and  all  this  passing  in  the 
single  city  of  Jerusalem,  and  within  ten  years  after  the  foun- 
der's death,  and  the  commencement  of  the  institution. 

II.  Secondly  :  We  take  no  credit  at  present  for  the  mira- 
culous part  of  the  narrative,  nor  do  we  insist  upon  the  correct- 
ness of  single  passages  of  it.  If  the  whole  story  be  not  a 
novel,  a  romance  ;  the  whole  action  a  dream  ;  if  Peter,  and 
James,  and  Paul,  and  the  rest  of  the  apostles  mentioned  in  the 
account  be  not  all  imaginary  persons ;  if  their  letters  be  not 
all  forgeries,  and,  what  is  more,  forgeries  of  names  and 
characters  which  never  existed ;  then  is  there  evidence  in  our 
hands  sufficient  to  support  the  only  fact  wTe  contend  for  (and 
which,  I  repeat  again,  is,  in  itself,  highly  probable),  that  the 
original  followers  of  Jesus  Christ  exerted  great  endeavors  to 
propagate  his  religion,  and  underwent  great  labors,  dangers, 
and  sufferings,  in  consequence  of  their  undertaking. 

III.  The  general  reality  of  the  apostolic  history  is  strongly 
confirmed  by  the  consideration,  that  it,  in  truth,  does  no  more 
than  assign  adequate  causes  for  effects  which  certainly  were 
produced,  and  describe  consequences  naturally  resulting  from 
situations  which  certainly  existed.  The  effects  were  certainly 
there,  of  which  the  history  sets  forth  the  cause,  and  origin,  and 
progress.  It  is  acknowledged  on  all  hands,  because  it  is 
recorded  by  other  testimony  than  that  of  the  Christians  them- 
selves, that  the  religion  began  to  prevail  at  that  time,  and  in 
that  country.  It  is  very  difficult  to  conceive  how  it  could 
begin,  or  prevail  at  all,  without  the  exertions  of  the  founder 
and  his  followers  in  propagating  the  new  persuasion.  The  his- 
tory now  in  our  hands  describes  these  exertions,  the  persons 
employed,   the   means   and  endeavors   made   use  of,  and   the 


1  Acts  iv.  3,  21.  2  Acts  v.  18,  40. 


78  Evidences  of  Christianity.  [Part  I. 

labors  undertaken  in  the  prosecution  of  this  purpose.  Again, 
the  treatment  which  the  history  represents  the  first  propagators 
of  the  religion  to  have  experienced,  was  no  other  than  what 
naturally  resulted  from  the  situation  in  which  they  were  con- 
fessedly plaeed.  It  is  admitted  that  the  religion  was  adverse, 
in  a  great  degree,  to  the  reigning  opinions,  and  to  the  hopes 
and  wishes  of  the  nation  to  which  it  was  first  introduced ;  and 
that  it  overthrew,  so  far  as  it  was  received,  the  established 
theology  and  worship  of  every  other  country.  We  cannot  feel 
much  reluctance  in  believing  that,  when  the  messengers  of  such 
a  system  went  about  not  only  publishing  their  opinions,  but 
collecting  proselytes,  and  forming  regular  societies  of  proselytes, 
they  should  meet  with  opposition  in  their  attempts,  or  that  this 
opposition  should  sometimes  proceed  to  fatal  extremities.  Our 
history  details  examples  of  this  opposition,  and  of  the  sufferings 
and  dangers  which  the  emissaries  of  the  religion  underwent, 
perfectly  agreeable  to  what  might  reasonably  be  expected,  from 
the  nature  of  their  undertaking,  compared  with  the  character 
of  the  age  and  country  in  which  it  was  carried  on. 

IV.  Fourthly  :  The  records  before  us  supply  evidence  of 
what  formed  another  member  of  our  general  proposition,  and 
what,  as  hath  already  been  observed,  is  highly  probable,  and 
almost  a  necessary  consequence  of  their  new  profession,  viz., 
that,  together  with  activity  and  courage  in  propagating  the 
religion,  the  primitive  followers  of  Jesus  assumed,  upon  their 
conversion,  a  new  and  peculiar  course  of  private  life.  Imme- 
diately after  their  master  was  withdrawn  from  them,  we  hear  of 
their  '  continuing  with  one  accord  in  prayer  and  supplication :' ! 
of  their  '  continuing  daily  with  one  accord  in  the  temple;'2  of 
'many  being  gathered  together  praying.'3  We  know  what 
strict  injunctions  were  laid  upon  the  converts  by  their  teachers. 
Wherever  they  came,  the  first  word  of  their  preaching  was, 
'  Repent  !'  We  know  that  these  injunctions  obliged  them  to 
refrain  from  many  Bpeciee  of  licentiousness,  which  were  not,  at 
that  time,  reputed  criminal.  We  know  the  rules  of  purity, 
and  the  maxims  of  benevolence,  which  Christians  read  in  their 
books;  concerning  which  rules,  it  is  enough  to  observe,  that, 
if  they  were,  I  will  not  say  completely  obeyed,  but  in  any 

i   Acts  i.  14  a  Acts  ii     16  3  Arts  xii.  12. 


Chap,  v.]         Observations  on  the  above  Evidence.  79 

degree  regarded,  they  would  produce  a  system  of  conduct,  and 
what  is  more  difficult  to  preserve,  a  disposition  of  mind,  and  a 
regulation  of  affections,  different  from  any  thing  to  which 
they  had  hitherto  been  accustomed,  and  different  from  what 
they  would  see  in  others.  The  change  and  distinction  of 
manners,  which  resulted  from  their  new  charater,  is  perpetually 
referred  to  in  the  letters  of  their  teachers.  '  And  you  hath  he 
quickened,  who  were  dead  in  trespasses  and  sins,  wherein  in 
times  past  ye  walked,  according  to  the  course  of  this  world, 
according  to  the  prince  of  the  power  of  the  air,  the  spirit  that 
now  worketh  in  the  children  of  disobedience  ;  among  whom  also 
we  had  our  conversation  in  times  past,  in  the  lusts  of  our  flesh, 
fulfilling  the  desires  of  the  flesh,  and  of  the  mind,  and  were  by 
nature  the  children  of  wrath,  even  as  others.' ! — '  For  the  time 
past  of  our  life  may  suffice  us  to  have  wrought  the  will  of  the 
Gentiles,  when  we  walked  in  lasciviousness,  lust,  excess  of  wine, 
revellings,  banquetings,  and  abominable  idolatries,  wherein  they 
think  it  strange  that  ye  run  not  with  them  to  the  same  excess  of 
riot.''2  St.  Paul,  in  his  first  letter  to  the  Corinthians,  after 
enumerating,  as  his  manner  was,  a  catalogue  of  vicious 
characters,  adds,  '  Such  were  some  of  you,  but  ye  are  washed, 
but  ye  are  sanctified.'3  In  like  manner,  and  alluding  to  the 
same  change  of  practices  and  sentiment,  he  asks  the  Roman 
Christians  'what  fruit  they  had  in  those  things  whereof  they 
are  now  ashamed?'4  The  phrases  which  the  same  writer 
employs  to  describe  the  moral  condition  of  Christians,  compared 
with  their  condition  before  they  became  Christians,  such  as 
'newness  of  life,'  being  'freed  from  sin,'  being  'dead  to  sin;' 
'  the  destruction  of  the  body  of  sin,  that,  for  the  future,  they 
should  not  serve  sin ;'  '  children  of  light  and  of  the  day,'  as 
opposed  to  'children  of  darkness  and  of  the  night,'  'not  sleeping 
as  others,'  imply,  at  least,  a  new  system  of  obligation,  and, 
probably,  a  new  series  of  conduct,  commencing  with  their  con- 
version. 

The  testimony  which  Pliny  bears  to  the  behavior  of  the 
new  sect  in  his  time,  and  which  testimony  comes  not  more 
than  fifty  years  after  that  of  St.  Paul,  is  very  applicable  to 


i  Eph.  iii.  1-3.     See  also  Tit.  iii.  3  ^  i  pet.  iv.  3,  4. 

3  1  Cor.  vi.  11.  4  Rom.  vi.  21. 


80  Evidences  of  Christianity.  [Part  I. 

the  subject  under  consideration.  The  character  which  this 
writer  gives  of  the  Christians  of  that  age,  and  which  was 
drawn  from  a  pretty  accurate  inquiry,  because  lie  considered 
their  moral  principles  as  the  point  in  which  the  magistrate 
was  interested,  is  as  follows  : — He  tells  the  emperor,  '  that  some 
of  those  who  had  relinquished  the  society,  or  who,  to  save 
themselves,  pretended  that  they  had  relinquished  it,  affirmed. 
that  they  were  wont  to  meet  together,  on  a  stated  clay,  be- 
fore it  was  light,  and  sung  among  themselves  alternately  a 
hymn  to  Christ  as  a  God ;  and  to  bind  themselves,  by  an  oath, 
not  to  the  commission  of  any  wickedness,  but  that  they  would 
not  be  guilty  of  theft,  or  robbery,  or  adultery  ;  that  they  would 
never  falsify  their  word,  or  deny  a  pledge  committed  to  them, 
when  called  upon  to  return  it.'  This  proves  that  a  morality, 
more  pure  and  strict  than  was  ordinary,  prevailed  at  that  time 
in  christian  societies.  And  to  me  it  appears,  that  we  aie 
authorized  to  cany  this  testimony  back  to  the  age  of  the 
apostles  ;  because  it  is  not  probable  that  the  immediate  hearers 
and  disciples  of  Christ  were  more  relaxed  than  their  successors 
in  Pliny's  time,  or  the  missionaries  of  the  religion  than  those 
whom  they  taught. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

There  is  satisfactory  evidence,  that  many,  professing  to  have 
been  original  witnesses  of  the  christian  miracles,  passed  their 
lives  in  labors,  dangers,  and  sufferings,  voluntarily  under- 
gone in  atf<  station  of  the  accounts  which  tht  y  dt  livered,  and 
solely  in  consequence  of  their  belief  of  the  truth  of  those 
accounts  /  <>nd  that  they  also  submitted,  from  the  same  mo- 
tives, to  new  rules  of  condurf. 

WHEN  we  consider,  first,  the  prevalency  of  the  religion  at 
this  hour;  secondly,  the  only  credible  account  which  can 
he  given  of  it-  origin,  viz.  (lie  activity  of  the  founder  and  his 
associates;  thirdly,  the  opposition  which  that  activity  must 
naturally  have  excited;  fourthly,  the  tare  of  the  founder  of  the 
religion,  attested  by  heathen  writers  as  well  as  our  own  ;  fifthly, 


Chap,  vi.]        The  Christian  History  miraculous.  81 

the  testimony  of  the  same  writers  to  the  sufferings  of  Christians, 
either  contemporary  with,  or  immediately  succeeding,  the 
original  settlers  of  the  institution  ;  sixthly,  predictions  of  the 
sufferings  of  his  followers  ascribed  to  the  founder  of  the  re- 
ligion, which  ascription  alone  proves,  either  that  snch  predic- 
tions were  delivered  and  fulfilled,  or  that  the  writers  of  Christ's 
life  were  induced  by  the  event  to  attribute  such  predictions  to 
him;  seventhly,  letters  now  in  our  possession,  written  by  some 
of  the  principal  agents  in  the  transaction,  referring  expressly  to 
extreme  labors,  dangers,  and  sufferings,  sustained  by  them- 
selves and  their  companions ;  lastly,  a  history  purporting  to  be 
written  by  a  fellow-traveller  of  one  of  the  new  teachers,  and, 
by  its  unsophisticated  correspondency  with  letters  of  that  per- 
son still  extant,  proving  itself  to  be  written  by  some  one 
well  acquainted  with  the  subject  of  the  narrative,  which  his- 
tory contains  accounts  of  travels,  persecutions,  and  martyr- 
doms, answering  to  what  the  former  reasons  lead  us  to  expect; 
when  we  lay  together  these  considerations,  which,  taken  sepa- 
rately, are,  I  think,  correctly  such  as  I  have  stated  them  in  the 
preceding  chapters,  there  cannot  much  doubt  remain  upon  our 
minds,  but  that  a  number  of  persons  at  that  time  appeared  i 
the  world,  publicly  advancing  an  extraordinary  story,  and,  for 
the  sake  of  propagating  the  belief  of  that  story,  voluntarily 
incurring  great  personal  dangers,  traversing  seas  and  kingdoms, 
exerting  great  industry,  and  sustaining  great  extremities  of  ill- 
usage  and  persecution.  It  is  also  proved  that  the  same  per- 
sons, in  consequence  of  their  persuasion,  or  pretended  persua- 
sion of  the  truth  of  what  they  asserted,  entered  upon  a  course 
of  life  in  many  respects  new  and  singular. 

From  the  clear  and  acknowledged  parts  of  the  case,  I 
think  it  to  be  likewise  in  the  highest  degree  probable,  that 
the  story,  for  which  these  persons  voluntarily  exposed  them- 
selves to  the  fatigues  and  hardships  which  they  endured,  was  a 
miraculous  story;  I  mean,  that  they  pretended  to  miraculous  I J 
evidence  of  some  kind  or  other.  They  had  nothing  else  tov  ^ 
stand  upon.  The  designation  of  the  person,  that  is  to  say, 
that  Jesus  of  Xazareth,  rather  than  any  other  person,  was  the 
Messiah,  and  as  such  the  subject  of  their  ministry,  could  only 
be  founded  upon  supernatural  tokens  attributed  to  him.  Here 
were  no  victories,  no  conquests,  no  revolutions,  no  surprising 

c, 


I 


82  Evidences  of  Christianity.  [Part  I. 

elevation  of  fortune,  no  achievements  of  valor,  of  strength,  or 
of  policy,  to  appeal  to  ;  no  discoveries  in  any  art  or  science,  no 
great  efforts  of  genius  or  learning  to  produce.  A  Galilean 
peasant  was  announced  to  the  world  as  a  divine  lawgiver.  A 
young  man  of  mean  condition,  of  a  private  and  simple  life,  and 
who  had  wrought  no  deliverance  for  the  Jewish  nation,  was  de- 
clared to  he  their  Messiah.  This,  without  ascribing  to  him  at 
the  same  time  some  proofs  of  his  mission,  (and  what  other  but 
supernatural  proofs  could  there  be  ?)  was  too  absurd  a  claim  to 
be  either  imagined,  or  attempted,  or  credited.  In  whatever 
degree,  or  in  whatever  part,  the  religion  was  argumentative, 
when  it  came  to  the  question,  '  Is  the  carpenter's  son  of  Naza- 
reth the  person  whom  we  are  to  receive  and  obey  V  there  was 
nothing  but  the  miracles  attributed  to  him,  by  which  Iris  pre- 
tensions could  be  maintained  for  a  moment.  Every  controversy 
and  every  question  must  presuppose  these ;  for,  however  such 
controversies,  when  they  did  arise,  might,  and  naturally  would, 
be  discussed  upon  their  own  grounds  of  argumentation,  without 
citing  the  miraculous  evidence  which  had  been  asserted  to 
attend  the  founder  of  the  religion  (which  would  have  been 
to  enter  upon  another,  and  a  more  general  question),  yet  we 
are  to  bear  in  mind,  that  without  previously  supposing  the 
existence  or  the  pretence  of  such  evidence,  there  could  have 
been  no  place  for  the  discussion  of  the  argument  at  all.  Thus, 
for  example,  whether  the  prophecies,  which  the  Jews  inter- 
preted to  belong  to  the  Messiah,  were,  or  were  not,  applicable 
to  the  history  of  Jesus  of  Nazareth,  was  a  natural  subject  of 
debate  in  those  times  :  and  the  debate  would  proceed,  with- 
out recurring  at  every  turn  to  his  miracles,  because  it  set  out 
with  supposing  these  ;  inasniucli  as  without  miraculous  marks 
and  tokens  (real  or  pretended),  or  without  some  such  great 
change  effected  by  his  means  in  the  public  condition  of  the 
country,  as  might  have  satisfied  the  then  received  interpretation 
of  these  prophecies,  1  do  not  see  how  the  question  could  ever 
have  been  entertained.  Apollos, we  read,  'mightily  convinced 
the  .lews,  showing  by  the  scriptures  that  Jesus  was  Christ ;' l 
bill  unless  Jesus  had  exhibited  some  distinction  of  his  person, 
some  proof  of  supernatural  power,  the  argument  from  the  old 

«  Acts  xviii.  28. 


Chap,  vi.]  The  Christian  History  miraculous.  83 

scriptures  could  have  had  no  place.  It  had  nothing  to  attach 
upon.  A  young  man  calling  himself  the  son  of  God,  gathering 
a  crowd  about  him,  and  delivering  to  them  lectures  of  mo- 
rality, could  not  have  excited  so  much  as  a  doubt  amongst 
the  Jews  whether  he  was  the  object  in  whom  a  long  series 
of  ancient  prophecies  terminated,  from  the  completion  of  which 
they  had  formed  such  magnificent  expectations,  and  expecta- 
tions of  a  nature  so  opposite  to  what  appeared  :  I  mean,  no 
such  doubt  could  exist  when  they  had  the  whole  case  before 
them,  when  they  saw  him  put  to  death  for  his  ofliciousness, 
and  when  by  his  death  the  evidence  concerning  him  was 
closed.  Again,  the  effect  of  the  Messiah's  coming,  supposing 
Jesus  to  have  been  he,  upon  Jews,  upon  Gentiles,  upon  their 
relation  to  each  other,  upon  their  acceptance  with  God,  upon 
their  duties  and  their  expectations  ;  his  nature,  authority,  office, 
and  agency  ;  were  likely  to  become  subjects  of  much  considera- 
tion with  the  early  votaries  of  the  religion,  and  to  occupy  their 
attention  and  writings.  I  should  not,  however,  expect  that  in 
these  disquisitions,  whether  preserved  in  the  form  of  letters, 
speeches,  or  set  treatises,  frequent  or  very  direct  mention  of 
his  miracles  would  occur.  Still  miraculous  evidence  lay  at  the 
bottom  of  the  argument.  In  the  primary  question,  miraculous 
pretensions,  and  miraculous  pretensions  alone,  were  what  they 
had  to  rely  upon. 

That  the  original  story  was  miraculous,  is  very  fairly  also 
inferred  from  the  miraculous  powers  which  were  laid  claim  to 
by  the  Christians  of  succeeding  ages.  If  the  accounts  of  these 
miracles  be  true,  it  was  a  continuation  of  the  same  powers ;  if 
they  be  false,  it  was  an  imitation,  I  will  not  say,  of  what  had 
been  wrought,  but  of  what  had  been  reported  to  have  been 
wrought,  by  those  who  preceded  them.  That  imitation  should 
follow  reality  ;  fiction  be  grafted  upon  truth  ;  that,  if  miracles 
were  performed  at  first,  miracles  should  be  pretended  after- 
wards, agrees  so  well  with  the  ordinary  course  of  human  affairs, 
that  we  can  have  no  great  difficulty  in  believing  it.  The  con- 
trary supposition  is  very  improbable,  namely,  that  miracles 
should  be  pretended  to  by  the  followers  of  the  apostles  and  first 
emissaries  of  the  religion,  when  none  were  pretended  to,  either 
in  their  own  persons  or  that  of  their  master,  by  these  apostles 
and  emissaries  themselves. 


84  Evidences  of  Christianity.  [Part  I. 


ANNOTATION. 

'■Miraculous  pretensions  alone  were  what  they  had  to  rely  on? 

That  the  christian  miracles  were,  at  the  time,  admitted  by 
opponents,  we  have  a  proof  in  a  very  curious  book  now  extant 
among  the  Jews,  the  Toldoth  Jeschu  [  Generation  of  Jesus~\ ,  which 
Paley  seems  not  to  have  known.1  It  is  the  Jewish  statement  of 
the  origin  of  the  religion  of  Jesus ;  and  it  fully  confirms  the  New 
Testament  statement  that  his  adversaries  acknowledged  the  fact 
of  his  miracles  (except  only  the  resurrection),  and  attributed 
them  to  magical  art.  Now  this  book,  which  is  very  ancient, 
though  the  exact  date  of  its  composition  is  not  known,  must  Ijave 
been  compiled  from  the  very  earliest  traditions.  For,  it  i§  in- 
credible that  if  the  contemporaries  of  Jesus  had  denied  the 
facts,  their  descendants  should  afterwards  have  acknowledged 
those  facts,  and  resorted  to  the  hypothesis  of  magic. 


CHAPTER  YII. 


There  is  satisfactory  evidence  that  many,  professing  to  have 
been  original  witnesses  of  the  christian  miracles, passed  their 
lives  in  labors,  dangers,  ami  sufferings,  voluntarily  under- 
gone in  attestation  of  the  accounts  which  they  <l<  Hr<  red,  and 
solely  in  const  qyu  n<'<  of  their  belief  of  tin  truth  of  those  ac- 
counts; and  that  they  also  submitted,  from  the  same  motives, 
to  new  rules  of  conduct. 

IT  once  then  being  proved,  that  the  first  propagators  of  the 
christian  institution  did  exert  great  activity,  and  subject 
themselves  1<>  great  dangers  and  sufferings,  in  consccpience,  and 
I'mi-  the  sake  <>f  an  extraordinary,  and  I  think  we  may  say, 


1  An  English  translation  of  it  was  published  some  years  ago,  by  an  antiehristian 

1 kseller,  under  the   title  of  the  Gospel  according  to  the  Jews.     He  was  stupid 

enough  to  think  that  it  made  against  Christianity. 


Chap,  vii.]  The  original  Christian  Story.  85 

of  a  miraculous  stoiy  of  some  kind  or  other ;  the  next  great 
question  is,  Whether  the  account,  which  our  scriptures  contain, 
be  that  story  ;  that  which  these  men  delivered,  and  for  which 
they  acted  and  suffered  as  they  did  ? 

This  question  is,  in  effect,  no  other  than,  whether  the  story 
which  Christians  have  now,  be  the  story  which  Christians  had 
then  f  And  of  this  the  following  proofs  may  be  deduced  from 
general  considerations,  and  from  considerations  prior  to  any 
inquiry  into  the  particular  reasons  and  testimonies  by  which 
the  authority  of  our  histories  is  supported. 

In  the  first  place,  there  exists  no  trace  or  vestige  of  any 
other  story.  It  is  not,  like  the  death  of  Cyrus  the  Great,  a 
competition  between  opposite  accounts,  or  between  the  credit 
of  different  historians.  There  is  not  a  document,  or  scrap  of 
account,  either  contemporary  with  the  commencement  of  Chris- 
tianity, or  extant  within  many  ages  after  that  commencement, 
which  assigns  a  history  substantially  different  from  ours.  The 
remote,  brief,  and  incidental  notices  of  the  affair,  which  are 
found  in  heathen  writers,  so  far  as  they  do  go,  go  along  with 
us.  They  bear  testimony  to  these  facts  :  that  the  institution 
originated  from  Jesus  ;  that  the  founder  was  put  to  death,  as  a 
malefactor,  at  Jerusalem,  by  the  authority  of  the  Roman 
governor,  Pontius  Pilate  ;  that  the  religion  nevertheless  spread 
in  that  city,  and  throughout  Judea  ;  and  that  it  was  propagated 
from  thence  to  distant  countries  ;  that  the  converts  were  nume- 
rous ;  that  they  suffered  great  hardships  and  injuries  for  their 
profession  ;  and  that  all  this  took  place  in  the  age  of  the  world 
which  our  books  have  assigned.  They  go  on  further,  to  de- 
scribe the  manners  of  Christians  in  terms  perfectly  conformable 
to  the  accounts  extant  in  our  books  ;  that  they  were  wont  to 
assemble  on  a  certain  day  ;  that  they  sung  hymns  to  Christ  as 
to  a  god ;  that  they  bound  themselves  by  an  oath  not  to  com- 
mit any  crime,  but  to  abstain  from  theft  and  adultery,  to  ad- 
here strictly  to  their  promises,  and  not  to  deny  money  deposited 
in  their  hands  ;T  that  they  worshipped  him  who  was  crucified 


2  Vide  Pliny's  Letter.  Bonnet,  in  his  lively  way  of  expressing  himself,  says — 
'  Comparing  Pliny's  Letter  with  the  account  in  the  Acts,  it  seems  to  me  that  I  had 
not  taken  up  another  author,  but  that  I  was  still  reading  the  historian  of  that 
extraordinary  society.'  This  is  strong  ;  hut  there  is  undoubtedly  an  affinity,  and 
nil  the  affinity  that  could  be  expected. 


y 


86  Evidences  of  Christianity.  [Part  I. 

in  Palestine ;  that  this  their  first  lawgiver  had  taught  them 
that  they  were  all  brethren  ;  that  they  had  a  great  contempt 
for  the  things  of  this  world,  and  looked  upon  them  as  com- 
mon ;  that  they  flew  to  one  another's  relief ;  that  they  cherished 
strong  hopes  of  immortality  ;  that  they  despised  death,  and 
surrendered  themselves  to  sufferings.1  This  is  the  account  of 
writers  who  viewed  the  subject  at  a  great  distance  ;  who  were 
uninformed  and  uninterested  about  it.  It  bears  the  characters 
of  such  an  account  upon  the  face  of  it,  because  it  describes 
effects,  namely,  the  appearance  in  the  world  of  a  new  religion, 
and  the  conversion  of  great  multitudes  to  it,  without  descend- 
ing, in  the  smallest  degree,  to  the  detail  of  the  transaction 
upon  which  it  was  founded,  the  interior  of  the  institution,  the 
evidence  or  arguments  offered  by  those  who  drew  over  others 
to  it.  Yet  still  here  is  no  contradiction  of  our  story  ;  no  other 
or  different  story  set  up  against  it ;  but  so  far  a  confirmation 
of  it,  as  that,  in  the  general  points  upon  which  the  heathen 
account  touches,  it  agrees  with  that  which  we  find  in  our  own 
books. 

The  same  may  be  observed  of  the  very  few  Jewish  writers,  of 
that  and  the  adjoining  period,  which  have  come  down  to  us. 
Whatever  they  omit,  or  whatever  difficulties  we  may  find  in 
explaining  the  omission,  they  advance  no  other  history  of  the 
transaction  than  that  which  we  acknowledge.  Josephus,  who 
wrote  his  Antiquities,  or  History  of  the  Jews,  about  sixty  years 
after  the  commencement  of  Christianity,  in  a  passage  generally 
admitted  as  genuine,  makes  mention  of  John  under  the  name 
of  John  the  Baptist  ;  that  he  was  a  preacher  of  virtue ;  that  he 
baptized  his  proselytes;  that  lie  was  well  received  by  the  people; 
that  he  was  imprisoned  and  put  to  death  by  Herod  ;  and  that 
Herod  lived  in  a  criminal  cohabitation  with  Herodias  his 
brother's  wife.2     In  another  passage,  allowed  by  many,  although 

1  '  It  is  incredible  what  expedition  they  use  when  any  of  their  friends  are  known 
to  be  in  trouble.  In  a  word,  tiny  spare  nothing  upon  such  an  occasion — for  these 
miserable  men  have  no  doubt  they  shall  he  immortal,  and  live  forever :  therefore 
they  contemn  death,  and  many  surrender  themselves  to  Bufferings.  Moreover, 
their  firsi  lawgiver  lias  taught  them  thai  they  are  all  brethren,  when  once  they 

have  turned  and  rei aced  the  gods  of  the  Greeks,  ami  worship  this  master  of 

theirs  who  was  crucified,  ami  engage  to  live  according  to  his  laws.  They  have 
also  a  sovereign  contempt  for  all  the  things  of  this  world,  and  look  upon  them  as 
common.'— Lucian   de  Mbrte  Peregrini,  t.  i.  p.  565,  ed.  Grrev. 

1  Antiq.  1. xviii.  cap.  v.  sect.  I,  'J. 


Chap,  vii.]  The  original  Christian  Story.  87 

not  without  considerable  question  being  moved  about  it,  we  hear 
of  '  James,  the  brother  of  him  who  was  called  Jesus,  and  of 
his  being  put  to  death.' 1  In  a  third  passage,  extant  in  every 
copy  that  remains  of  Josephus's  history,  but  the  authenticity  of 
which  has  nevertheless  been  long  disputed,  we  have  an  explicit 
testimony  to  the  substance  of  our  history  in  these  words : — ■ 
'  At  that  time  lived  Jesus,  a  wise  man,  if  he  may  be  called  a 
man,  for  he  performed  many  wonderful  works.  He  was  a 
teacher  of  such  men  as  received  the  truth  with  pleasure.  He 
drew  over  to  him  many  Jews  and  Gentiles.  This  was  the 
Christ ;  and  when  Pilate,  at  the  instigation  of  the  chief  men 
among  us,  had  condemned  him  to  the  cross,  they  who  before 
had  conceived  an  affection  for  him  did  not  cease  to  adhere  to 
him  ;  for  on  the  third  day  he  appeared  to  them  alive  again,  the 
divine  prophets  having  foretold  these  and  many  wonderful 
things  concerning  him.  And  the  sect  of  the  Christians,  so 
called  from  him,  subsists  to  this  time.' 2  Whatever  become  of 
the  controversy  concerning  the  genuineness  of  this  passage ; 
whether  Josephus  go  the  whole  length  of  our  history,  which,  if 
the  passage  be  sincere,  he  does ;  or  whether  he  proceed  only  a 
little  way  with  us,  which  if  the  passage  be  rejected,  we  confess 
to  be  the  case  ;  still  what  we  asserted  is  true,  that  he  gives  no 
other  or  different  history  of  the  subject  from  ours,  no  other  or 
different  account  of  the  origin  of  the  institution.  And  I  think 
also  that  it  may  with  great  reason  be  contended,  either  that  the 
passage  is  genuine,  or  that  the  silence  of  Josephus  was  designed. 
For,  although  we  should  lay  aside  the  authority  of  our  own 
books  entirely,  yet  when  Tacitus,  who  wrote  not  twenty,  per- 
haps not  ten,  years  after  Josephus,  in  his  account  of  a  period 
in  which  Josephus  was  near  thirty  years  of  age,  tells  us,  that 
a  vast  multitude  of  Christians  were  condemned  at  Home  ;  that 
they  derived  their  denomination  from  Christ,  who,  in  the  reign 
of  Tiberius,  was  put  to  death,  as  a  criminal,  by  the  procurator 
Pontius  Pilate  ;  that  the  superstition  had  spread  not  only  over 
Judea,  the  source  of  the  evil,  but  had  reached  Rome  also  : — 
when  Suetonius,  an  historian  contemporary  with  Tacitus,  relates 
that,  in  the  time  of  Claudius,  the  Jews  were  making  disturb- 
ances at  Rome,  Chrestus  being  their  leader  ;  and  that,  during 


1  Antiq.  1.  xx.  cap.  ix.  sect.  1.  a  Antiq.  1.  xviii.  cap.  iii.  sect.  3. 


88  Evidences  of  Christianity  [Part  L 

the  reign  of  Nero,  the  Christians  were  punished  ;  under  both 
which  emperors  Joseplms  lived  ;  when  Pliny,  who  wrote  his 
celebrated  epistle  not  more  than  thirty  years  after  the  publica- 
tion of  Josephus's  history,  found  the  Christians  in  such  numbers 
in  the  province  of  Bithynia  as  to  draw  from  him  a  complaint, 
that  the  contagion  had  seized  cities,  towns,  and  villages,  and 
had  so  seized  them  as  to  produce  a  general  desertion  of  the 
public  rites ;  and  when,  as  hath  already  been  observed,  there  is 
no  reason  for  imagining  that  the  Christians  were  more  numerous 
in  Bithynia  than  in  many  other  parts  of  the  Roman  empire  ;  it 
cannot,  I  should  suppose,  after  this,  be  believed,  that  the  reli- 
gion, and  the  transaction  upon  which  it  was  founded,  were  too 
obscure  to  engage  the  attention  of  Josephus,  or  to  obtain  a 
place  in  his  history.  Perhaps  he  did  not  know  how  to  represei  1 1 
the  business,  and  dispose  of  his  difficulties  by  passing  it  over 
in  silence.  Eusebius  wrote  the  life  of  Constantino,  yet  omits 
entirely  the  most  remarkable  circumstance  in  that  life,  the  death 
of  his  son  Crispus ;  undoubtedly  for  the  reason  here  given. 
The  reserve  of  Josephus  upon  the  subject  of  Christianity 
appears  also  in  his  passing  over  the  banishment  of  the  Jews  by 
Claudius,  which  Suetonius,  we  have  seen,  has  recorded  with  an 
express  reference  to  Christ.  This  is  at  least  as  remarkable  as 
his  silence  about  the  infants  of  Bethlehem.1  Be,  however,  the 
fact,  or  the  cause  of  the  omission  in  Josephus,2  what  it  may,  no 
other  or  different  history  on  the  subject  has  been  given  by  him, 
or  is  pretended  to  have  been  given. 

r>ut  farther;  the  whole  series  of  christian  writers,  from  the 
firsl  age  of  the  institution  down  to  the  present,  in  their  discus- 
sions, apologies,  arguments,  and  controversies,  proceed  upon 
the  general  story  which  our  scriptures  contain,  and   upon  no 


1  Michaelis  has  computed, and,  ;is  it  should  seem,  fairly  enough,  that  prohably 

Dot   c  than  twenty  children  perished  by   this  cruel    precaution.     Michael. 

Ititrod.  loth.  X.  Test,  translated  by  Marsh,  vol.  i.  c.  ii.  sect.  11. 

1  There  is  no  notice  taken  of  Christianity  iii  the  Mishna,  a  collection  of  Jewish 
traditions  compiled  about  the  year  180,  although  it  contains  a  Tract  De  Cultu 
rinn,  'Of  strange  or  idolatrous  Worship  :'  yel  it  cannot  be  disputed  but  that 
Christianity  was  perfectly  well  known  in  the  world  at  this  time.  There  is  ex- 
tremely little  notice  of  the  subject  in  the  Jerusalem  Talmud,  compiled  about  the 
ye;ir  800,  and  not  iniieh  more  in  the  Babylonish  Talmud,  of  the  year  500,  although 
both  these  works  are  of  a  religious  nature,  and  although,  when  the  first  was 
compiled,  Christianity  was  upon  the  point  of  becoming  the  religion  Of  the  state, 
and.  when  the  latter  was  published,  had  been  so  for  '200  years. 


Chap,  vii.]  The  original  Christian  Story.  89 

other.  The  main  facts,  the  principal  agents,  are  alike  in  all. 
This  argument  will  appear  to  be  of  great  force,  when  it  is 
known  that  we  are  able  to  trace  back  the  series  of  writers  to  a 
contact  with  the  historical  books  of  the  New  Testament,  and  to 
the  age  of  the  first  emissaries  of  the  religion,  and  to  deduce  it, 
by  an  unbroken  continuation,  from  that  end  of  the  train  to  the 
present. 

The  remaining  letters  of  the  apostles  (and  what  more  original 
than  their  letters  can  we  have  ?),  though  written  without  the 
remotest  design  of  transmitting  the  history  of  Christ,  or  of 
Christianity,  to  future  ages,  or  even  of  making  it  known  to 
their  contemporaries,  incidentally  disclose  to  us  the  following 
circumstances :  Christ's  descent  and  family,  his  innocence,  the 
meekness  and  gentleness  of  his  character  (a  recognition  which 
goes  to  the  whole  gospel  history),  his  exalted  nature,  his  cir- 
cumcision, transfiguration,  his  life  of  opposition  and  suffering, 
his  patience  and  resignation,  the  appointment  of  the  eucharist 
and  the  manner  of  it,  his  agony,  his  confession  before  Pontius 
Pilate,  his  stripes,  crucifixion,  burial,  resurrection,  his  appear- 
ance after  it,  first  to  Peter,  then  to  the  rest  of  the  apostles,  his 
ascension  into  heaven,  and  his  designation  to  be  the  future 
judge  of  mankind  :  the  stated  residence  of  the  apostles  at 
Jerusalem,  the  working  of  miracles  by  the  first  preachers  of 
the  gospel,  who  were  also  the  hearers  of  Christ  :l  the  successful 
propagation  of  the  religion,  the  persecution  of  its  followers,  the 
miraculous  conversion  of  Paul,  miracles  wrought  by  himself, 
and  alleged  in  his  controversies  with  his  adversaries,  and  in 
letters  to  the  persons  amongst  whom  they  were  wrought ; 
finally,  that  miracles  were  the  signs  of  an  apostle.2 

1  Heb.  ii.  3.  '  How  shall  we  escape  if  we  neglect  so  great  salvation,  which,  at 
the  first,  began  to  be  spoken  by  the  Lord,  and  was  confirmed  unto  us  by  them  that 
heard  him,  God  also  bearing  them  witness,  both  with  signs  and  loonders,  and  with 
divers  miracles,  and  gifts  of  the  Holy  Ghost  V  I  allege  this  epistle  without  hesita- 
tion ;  for,  whatever  doubts  may  have  been  raised  about  its  author,  there  can  be  none 
concerning  the  age  in  which  it  was  written.  No  epistle  in  the  collection  carries  about 
it  more  indubitable  marks  of  antiquity  than  this  does.  It  speaks,  for  instance, 
throughout,  of  the  temple,  as  then  standing,  and  of  the  worship  of  the  temple  as 
then  subsisting. — Heb.  viii.  4.  '  For,  if  he  were  on  earth,  he  should  not  be  a 
priest,  seeing  there  are  priests  that  offer  according  to  the  law.' — Again,  Heb.  xiii.  10. 
'  We  have  an  altar  whereof  they  have  no  right  to  eat  which  serve  the  tabernacle.' 

a  2  Cor.  xii.  12.  '  Truly  the  signs  of  an  apostle  were  wrought  among  you  in  all 
patience,  in  signs  and  wonders  and  mighty  deeds.' 


90  Evidences  of  Christianity.  [Part  I. 

In  an  epistle  bearing  the  name  of  Barnabas,  the  companion 
of  Paul,  probably  genuine,1  certainly  belonging  to  that  age,  we 
have  the  sufferings  of  Christ,  his  choice  of  apostles  and  their 
number,  his  passion,  the  scarlet  robe,  the  vinegar  and  gall,  the 
mocking  and  piercing,  the  casting  lots  for  his  coat,2  his  resur- 
rection on  the  eighth  [i.  e.,  the  first  day  of  the  week3],  and  the 
commemorative  distinction  of  that  day,  his  manifestation  after 
his  resurrection,  and  lastly,  his  ascension.  We  have  also  his 
miracles  generally  but  positively  referred  to  in  the  following 
words  :  '  finally,  teaching  the  people  of  Israel,  and  doing  many 
wonders  and  signs  among  them,  he  preached  to  them,  and 
showed  the  exceeding  great  love  which  he  bare  towards  them.'4 

In  an  epistle  of  Clement,  a  hearer  of  St.  Paul,  although 
written  for  a  purpose  remotely  connected  with  the  christian 
history,  we  have  the  resurrection  of  Christ,  and  the  subsequent 
mission  of  the  apostles,  recorded  in  these  satisfactory  termi: 
'  The  apostles  have  preached  to  us  from  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ 
from  God — For,  having  received  their  command,  and  being 
thoroughly  assured  hy  the  resurrection  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ, 
they  went  abroad,  publishing  that  the  kingdom  of  God  was  at 
hand.'5  We  find  noticed  also,  the  humility,  yet  the  power  of 
Christ,6  his  descent  from  Abraham,  his  crucifixion.  We  have 
Peter  and  Paul  represented  as  faithful  and  righteous  pillars  of 
the  Church,  the  numerous  sufferings  of  Peter,  the  bonds, 
stripes,  and  stoning  of  Paul,  and  more  particularly  his  exten- 
sive and  unwearied  travels. 

In  an  epistle  of  Polycarp,  a  disciple  of  St.  John,  though  only 
a  brief  hortatory  letter,  we  have  the  humility,  patience,  suffer- 
ings, resurrection,  and  ascension  of  Christ,  together  with  the 
apostolic  character  of  St.  Paul,  distinctly  recognized.7  Of  this 
same  father  we  are  also  assured  by  Irenanis,  that  he  [Irenanis]  had 
heard  him  relate, '  what  he  had  received  from  eye-witnesses  con- 
cerning the  Lord,  both  concerning  his  miracles  and  his  doctrine.'8 

In   the  remaining  works  of  Ignatius,  the  contemporary  of 

1  It  is  very  strange  that  many  reckon  Barnabas  the  Apostle  the  author  of  this 
epistle,  and  reckon  him  among  the  '  Apostolical  Fathers.'  If  it  had  heen  believed  to 
be  by  him,  it  would  doubtless  have  been  received  as  Holy  Scripture.  If.  hy  some  other 
prrson,  there  is  no  sufficient  proof  of  his  having  been  contemporary  with  the  Apostles. 

■J  Ep.  Bar.  c.  vii.  3  Ibid.  C.  vi.  *  Ibid.  c.  v. 

*  Ep.  Clem.  Rom.  c.  xlii.  '  Ibid.  c.  xvi. 

7  L'ol.  Ep.  ad  Phil,  c  v.,  viii.,  ii.,  iii.  6  Ir.  ad  Flor.  ap.  Eub.  l.v.c.  20. 


Chap,  vii.]  The  original  christian  Story.  91 

Polycarp,  larger  than  those  of  Polycarp  (yet,  like  those  of 
Polycarp,  treating  of  subjects  in  no  wise  leading  to  any  recital 
of  the  christian  history),  the  occasional  allusions  are  propor- 
tionally more  numerous.  The  descent  of  Christ  from  David, 
his  mother  Mary,  his  miraculous  conception,  the  star  at  his 
birth,  his  baptism  by  John,  the  reason  assigned  for  it,  his 
appeal  to  the  prophets,  the  ointment  poured  on  his  head,  his 
sufferings  under  Pontius  Pilate  and  Herod  the  tetrarch,  his 
resurrection,  the  Lord's  day  called  and  kept  in  commemoration 
of  it,  and  the  Eucharist,  in  both  its  parts,  are  unequivocally 
referred  to.  Upon  the  resurrection  this  writer  is  even  circum- 
stantial. He  mentions  the  apostles  eating  and  drinking  with 
Christ  after  he  was  risen,  their  feeling  and  their  handling  him  ; 
from  which  last  circumstance  Ignatius  raises  this  just  reflection — 
'  They  believed,  being  convinced  both  by  his  flesh  and  spirit ;  for 
this  cause  they  despised  death,  and  were  found  to  be  above  it.' l 

Quadratus,  of  the  same  age  with  Ignatius,  has  left  us  the 
following  noble  testimony: — 'The  works  of  our  Saviour  were 
always  conspicuous,  for  they  were  real ;  both  they  that  were 
healed,  and  they  that  were  raised  from  the  dead  :  who  were 
seen  not  only  when  they  were  healed  or  raised,  but  for  a  long 
time  afterwards  :  not  only  whilst  he  dwelled  on  this  earth,  but 
also  after  his  departure,  and  for  a  good  while  after  it,  insomuch 
that  some  of  them  have  reached  to  our  times.' 2 

Justin  Martyr  came  little  more  than  thirty  years  after 
Quadratus.  From  Justin's  works,  which  are  still  extant,  might 
be  collected  a  tolerably  complete  account  of  Christ's  life,  in  all 
points  agreeing  with  that  which  is  delivered  in  our  scriptures  ; 
taken  indeed,  in  a  great  measure,  from  those  scriptures,  but 
still  proving  that  this  account,  and  no  other,  was  the  account 
known  and  extant  in  that  age.  The  miracles  in  particular, 
which  form  the  part  of  Christ's  history  most  material  to  be 
traced,  stand  fully  and  distinctly  recognized  in  the  following 
passage  : — '  He  healed  those  who  had  been  blind,  and  deaf,  and 
lame  from  their  birth,  causing,  by  his  word,  one  to  leap,  another 
to  hear,  and  a  third  to  see;  and  by  raising  the  dead,  and  making 
them  to  live,  he  induced,  by  his  works,  the  men  of  that  age  to 
know  him.'3 


1  Ad  Smyr.  c.  iii.  2  Ap.  Eus.  H.  E.  1.  iv.  c.  3. 

3  Just.  Dial,  cum  Iryph.  p.  288.  ed.  Thirl. 


92  Evidences  of  Christianity.  [Part  I. 

It  is  unnecessary  to  carry  these  citations  lower,  because  the 
history,  after  this  time,  occurs  in  ancient  christian  writings  as 
familiarly  as  it  is  wont  to  do  in  modern  sermons;  occurs 
always  the  same  in  substance,  and  always  that  which  our 
evangelists  represent. 

This  is  not  only  true  of  those  writings  of  Christians  which 
are  genuine,  and  of  acknowledged  authority,  but  it  is,  in  a  great 
measure,  true  of  all  their  ancient  writings  which  remain  ; 
although  some  of  these  may  have  been  erroneously  ascribed  to 
authors  to  whom  they  did  not  belong,  or  may  contain  false 
accounts,  or  may  appear  to  be  undeserving  of  credit,  or  never 
indeed  to  have  obtained  any.  Whatever  fables  they  have  mixed 
with  the  narrative,  they  preserve  the  material  parts,  the  leading 
facts,  as  we  have  them ;  and,  so  far  as  they  do  this,  although 
they  be  evidence  of  nothing  else,  they  are  evidence  that  the^p 
points  were  fixed,  were  received  and  acknowledged  by  all  Chris- 
tians in  the  ages  in  which  the  books  were  written.  At  least,  it 
may  be  asserted,  that,  in  the  places  where  we  were  most  likely 
to  meet  with  such  things,  if  such  things  had  existed,  no  relics 
appear  of  any  story  substantially  different  from  the  present,  as 
the  cause,  or  as  the  pretence,  of  the  institution. 

Now  that  the  original  story,  the  story  delivered  by  the  first 
preachers  of  the  institution,  should  have  died  away  so  entirely 
as  to  have  left  no  record  or  memorial  of  its  existence,  although 
so  many  records  and  memorials  of  the  time  and  transaction 
remain  ;  and  that  another  story  should  have  stepped  into  its 
place,  and  gained  exclusive  possession  of  the  belief  of  all  who 
professed  themselves  disciples  of  the  institution,  is  beyond  any 
example  of  the  corruption  of  even  oral  tradition,  and  still  less 
consistent  with  the  experience  of  written  history  :  and  this  im- 
probability, which  is  very  great,  is  rendered  still  greater  by  the 
reflection,  that  no  such  change,  as  the  oblivion  of  one  story 
and  the  substitution  of  another,  took  place  in  any  future  period 
of  the  christian  era.  Christianity  hath  travelled  through  dark 
and  turbulent  ages  ;  nevertheless  it  came  out  of  the  cloud  and 
the  storm,  such,  in  substance,  as  it  entered  in.  Many  additions 
were  made  to  the  primitive  history,  and  these  entitled  to  dif- 
ferent decrees  of  credit:  many  doctrinal  errors  also  were  from 
time  to  time  grafted  into  the  public  creed,  but  still  the  original 


Chap,  vii.]  The  original  christian  Society.  93 

story  remained  the  same.     In  all  its  principal  parts  it  has  been 
fixed  from  the  beginning. 

Thirdly,  The  religious  rites  and  usages  that  prevailed  amongst 
the  early  disciples  of  Christianity,  were  such  as  belonged  to, 
and  sprung  out  of,  the  narrative  now  in  our  hands  ;  which 
accordancy  shows,  that  it  was  the  narrative  upon  which  these 
persons  acted,  and  which  they  had  received  from  their  teachers. 
Our  account  makes  the  founder  of  the  religion  direct  that  his 
disciples  should  be  baptized :  we  know  that  the  first  Christians 
were  baptized.  Our  account  makes  him  direct  that  they 
should  hold  religious  assemblies :  we  find  that  they  did  hold 
religious  assemblies.  Our  accounts  make  the  apostles  assemble 
upon  a  stated  day  in  the  week :  we  find,  and  that  from  infor- 
mation perfectly  independent  of  our  accounts,  that  the  Christians 
of  the  first  century  did  observe  stated  days  of  assembling.  Our 
histories  record  the  institution  of  the  rite  which  we  call  the 
Lord's  Supper,  and  a  command  to  repeat  it  in  perpetual  suc- 
cession :  we  find,  amongst  the  early  Christians,  the  celebration 
of  this  rite  universal.  And  indeed  we  find  concurring  in  all  the 
above-mentioned  observances,  christian  societies  of  many  dif- 
ferent nations  and  languages,  removed  from  one  another  by 
great  distance  of  place  and  dissimilitude  of  situation.  It  is 
also  extremely  material  to  remark,  that  there  is  no  room  for 
insinuating  that  our  books  were  fabricated  with  a  studious 
accommodation  to  the  usages  which  obtained  at  the  time  they 
were  written ;  that  the  authors  of  the  books  found  the  usages 
established,  and  framed  the  story  to  account  for  their  original. 
The  scripture  accounts,  especially  of  the  Lord's  Supper,  are  too 
short  and  cursory,  not  to  say  too  obscure,  and  in  this  view, 
deficient,  to  allow  a  place  for  any  such  suspicion.1 

Amongst  the  proofs  of  the  truth  of  our  proposition,  viz.,  that 
the  story,  which  we  have  now,  is,  in  substance,  the  story  which 
the  Christians  had  then,  or,  in  other  words,  that  the  accounts  in 
our  gospels  are,  as  to  their  principal  parts  at  least,  the  accounts 
which  the  apostles  and  original  teachers  of  the  religion  delivered, 


1  The  reader  who  is  conversant  in  these  researches,  hy  comparing  the  short 
scripture  accounts  of  the  christian  rites  above-mentioned  with  the  minute  and 
circumstantial  directions  contained  in  the  pretended  apostolical  constitutions, 
will  see  the  force  of  this  observation  ;  the  difference  between  truth  and  forgery. 


94  Evidences  of  Christianity.  [Part  I. 

one  arises  from  observing,  that  it  appears  by  the  gospels  them- 
selves, that  the  story  was  public  at  the  time  ;  that  the  christian 
community  was  already  in  possession  of  the  substance  and 
principal  parts  of  the  narrative.  The  gospels  were  not  the  origi- 
nal cause  of  the  christian  history  being  believed,  but  were  them- 
selves among  the  consequences  of  that  belief.  This  is  expressly 
affirmed  by  St.  Luke  in  his  brief,  but,  as  I  think,  very  important 
and  instructive  preface.  '  Forasmuch  [sa}^s  the  evangelist]  as 
many  have  taken  in  hand  to  set  forth  in  order  a  declaration  of 
those  things  which  are  most  surely  believed  amongst  us,  even  as 
they  were  delivered  unto  us,  which,  from  the  beginning,  were 
eye-witnesses  and  ministers  of  the  word  /  it  seemed  good  to  me 
also,  having  had  perfect  understanding  of  all  things  from  the 
very  first,  to  write  unto  thee  in  order,  most  excellent  Theophilus, 
that  thou  mightest  know  the  certainty  of  those  things  vmerein 
thou  hast  been  instructed.'' — This  short  introduction  testifies* 
that  the  substance  of  the  history,  which  the  evangelist  was 
about  to  write,  was  already  believed  by  Christians  ;  that  it  was 
believed  upon  the  declarations  of  eye-witnesses  and  ministers  of 
the  word  ;  that  it  formed  the  account  of  their  religion,  in  which 
Christians  were  instructed ;  that  the  office  which  the  historian 
proposed  to  himself,  was  to  trace  each  particular  to  its  origin, 
and  to  fix  the  certainty  of  many  things  which  the  reader  had 
before  heard  of.  In  St.  John's  Gospel,  the  same  point  appears 
from  hence,  that  there  are  some  principal  facts,  to  which  the 
historian  refers,  but  which  he  does  not  relate.  A  remarkable 
instance  of  this  kind  is  the  ascension,  which  is  not  mentioned 
by  St.  John  in  its  place,  at  the  conclusion  of  his  history,  but 
which  is  plainly  referred  to  in  the  following  words  of  the  sixth 
chapter:1  'What  and  if  ye  shall  see  the  Son  of  man  ascend  up 
where  ho  was  before?'  And  still  more  positively  in  the  words 
which  Christ,  according  to  our  evangelist,  spoke  to  Mary  after 
his  resurrection,  'Touch  me  not,  for  I  am  not  yet  ascended  to 
my  Father;  but  go  unto  my  brethren,  and  say  unto  them,  I 
ascend  unto  my  Father,  and  your  Father,  unto  my  God  and 
yourGod.'2  This  can  only  be  accounted  for  by  the  supposition, 
that  St.  John  wrote  under  a  sense  of  the  notoriety  of  Christ's 
ascension,  amongst  those  by  whom  his  book  was  likely  to  be 


1  Also  John  iii.  13,  and  xvi.  28.  a  Ibid.  xx.  17. 


Chap,  vii.]  The  original  christian  Story.  95 

read.  The  same  account  must  also  be  given  of  St.  Matthew's 
omission  of  the  same  important  fact.  The  thing  was  very  well 
known,  and  it  did  not  occur  to  the  historian  that  it  was  neces- 
sary to  add  any  particulars  concerning  it.  It  agrees  also  with 
this  solution,  and  with  no  other,  that  neither  Matthew  nor  John 
disposes  of  the  person  of  our  Lord  in  any  manner  whatever. 
Other  intimations  in  St.  John's  Gospel  of  the  then  general 
notoriety  of  the  story  are  the  following :  His  manner  of  intro- 
ducing his  narrative,  [ch.  i.  ver.  15,]  '  John  bare  witness  of 
him,  and  cried,  saying,'  evidently  presupposes  that  his  readers 
knew  who  John  was.  His  rapid  parenthetical  reference  to 
John's  imprisonment,  '  for  John  was  not  yet  cast  into  prison,' * 
could  only  come  from  a  writer  whose  mind  was  in  the  habit  of 
considering  John's  imprisonment  as  perfectly  notorious.  The 
description  of  Andrew  by  the  addition  '  Simon  Peter's  brother,'2 
takes  it  for  granted  that  Simon  Peter  was  well  known.  His 
name  had  not  been  mentioned  before.  The  evangelist's  notic- 
ing3 the  prevailing  misconstruction  of  a  discourse  which  Christ 
held  with  the  beloved  disciple,  proves  that  the  characters  and. 
the  discourse  were  already  public.  And  the  observation  which 
these  instances  afford,  is  of  equal  validity  for  the  purpose  of  the 
present  argument,  whoever  were  the  authors  of  the  histories. 

These  four  circumstances,  first,  the  recognition  of  the  ac- 
count in  its  principal  parts  by  a  series  of  succeeding  writers  ; 
secondly,  the  total  absence  of  any  account  of  the  origin  of  the 
religion  substantially  different  from  ours ;  thirdly,  the  early 
and  extensive  prevalence  of  rites  and  institutions,  which  result 
from  our  account ;  fourthly,  our  account  bearing,  in  its  con 
struction,  proof  that  it  is  an  account  of  facts,  which  were  known 
and  believed  at  the  time,  are  sufficient,  I  conceive,  to  support 
an  assurance,  that  the  story  which  we  have  now,  is,  in  general, 
the  story  which  Christians  had  at  the  beginning.  1  say  in 
general',  by  which  term  I  mean,  that  it  is  the  same  in  its 
texture,  and  in  its  principal  facts.  For  instance,  I  make  no 
doubt,  for  the  reasons  above  stated,  but  that  the  resurrection 
of  the  founder  of  the  religion  was  always  a  part  of  the  chris- 
tian story.     Nor  can  a  doubt  of  this  remain  upon  the  mind  of 


1  John  iii.  24.  2  Ibid.  i.  40.  3  Ibid.  xxi.  24. 


96  Evidences  of  Christianity.  [Part  1. 

any  one,  who  reflects  that  the  resurrection  is,  in  some  form  or 
other,  asserted,  referred  to,  or  assumed,  in  every  christian  writ- 
ing, of  every  description,  which  hath  come  down  to  us. 

And  if  our  evidence  stopped  here,  we  should  have  a  strong 
case  to  offer :  for  we  should  have  to  allege,  that,  in  the  reign 
of  Tiberius  Caesar,  a  certain  number  of  persons  set  about  an 
attempt  of  establishing  a  new  religion  in  the  world;  in  the 
prosecution  of  which  purpose,  they  voluntarily  encountered 
great  dangers,  undertook  great  labors,  sustained  great  suffer- 
ings, all  for  a  miraculous  story  which  they  published  wherever 
they  came ;  and  that  the  resurrection  of  a  dead  man,  whom, 
during  his  life,  they  had  followed  and  accompanied,  was  a  con- 
stant part  of  this  story.  I  know  nothing  in  the  above  state- 
ment which  can,  with  any  appearance  of  reason,  be  disputed  : 
and  I  know  nothing  in  the  history  of  the  human  species  similar 
to  it. 


ANNOTATION. 

'  There  is  no  foomfor  i/nsin  noting  that  our  hooks  were  fabricated 
with  a  studious  accommodation  to  the  usages  which  obtained 
at  the  time  when  they  ivere  written.'' 

Not  only  is  this  true,  but  the  omission  in  the  New  Testa- 
ment of  many  things  which — humanly  speaking — we  should 
have  expected  to  find  there,  is  a  strong  (though  often  over- 
looked) internal  evidence  of  divine  agency.1  "We  find  in  the 
New  Testament  nothing  of  the  character  of  the  Catechisms, 
such  as  wu  are  sure  must  have  been  employed  for  instructing 
learners  in  the  first  rudiments  of  Christianity:  nor  again 
do  we  find  any  thing  of  the  nature  of  a  Creed /  nor  a  Liturgy / 
nor  any  tiling  answering  to  a  Rubric  (or  a  set  of  Canons  pre- 
scribing the  mode  of  administering  the  Sacraments,  and  of  con- 
ducting all  parte  of  the  Church-Service;  nor  any  precise  de- 
scription <>t' tin-  manner  of  ordaining  Ministers,  and  of  carrying 
mi  ( 'hurrh-govt.  mnu  nt. 

Y<-t  all  these  things,  we  are  sure,  must  have  existed.  We 
even  find  frequent  mention  of  prayers  offered  up  by  Apostles; 


'See  Essay  on  the  Omit 


Chap,  vii.]  Annotation.  97 

and  of  their  '  breaking  bread'  [celebrating  the  Lord's  Supper] 
in  the  congregations.  But  the  prayers  which  they  used,  on 
these  and  on  other  occasions,  are  not  recorded.  And  it  is  very 
remarkable  that  the  only  two  prayers  of  the  Apostles  that  we 
do  find  recorded  in  words,  had  reference  to  such  peculiar 
occasions  (the  election  of  an  Apostle  in  Acts  i.,  and  their  first 
persecution,  Acts  iv.)  as  made  them  quite  unsuitable  for  ordinary 
public  worship.  The  same  is  the  case,  in  a  less  degree,  with  the 
three  Hymns,  that  of  Zacharias,  that  of  the  Virgin  Mary,  and 
that  of  Simeon,  which  are  introduced  from  the  New  Testament 
into  our  Service.  They  had,  each,  reference  to  a  peculiar 
occasion,  but  not  to  such  a  degree  as  to  unfit  them  altogether 
for  ordinary  worship ;  for  which  they  have  been  adopted 
accordingly.  The  same  may  be  said  of  the  prayers  of  the  first 
martyr,  Stephen  ;  and  also  of  those  prayers  of  Jesus  Himself 
which  are  recorded  in  John's  Gospel.  One  short  form  of 
prayer  which  our  Lord  taught  to  his  disciples — and  that, 
before  the  chief  part  of  the  Gospel  had  been  revealed — is  all 
that  we  find  recorded. 

Now  that  no  Liturgies,  Creeds,  or  other  Formularies,  such 
as  we  have  been  speaking  of,  should  have  been  committed  to 
writing  by  any  of  the  Apostles  or  Evangelists,  is  a  fact  which 
will  appear  the  more  unaccountable, — humanly  speaking, — 
the  more  we  reflect  on  the  subject.  Supposing  Paul  to  have 
been  too  much  occupied  with  other  writings  to  find  leisure  for 
recording  such  things,  why  was  it  not  done,  by  his  direction  or 
permission,  by  one  or  other  of  his  companions  and  assistants  ? 
— by  Luke,  or  Timothy,  or  Titus,  or  some  of  the  others  whom 
we  find  mentioned  ?  If  not  by  any  of  these,  why  not  by  Bar- 
nabas, or  Peter,  or  some  other  Apostle  ?  or  by  some  of  their 
numerous  fellow-laborers  ? 

There  must  have  been  hundreds  quite  competent  to  the  task ; 
which  would  have  been  merely  to  write  down  what  they  saw  and 
heard ;  and  this  would  have  been  eagerly  read  by  thousands, 
and  carefully  copied  and  preserved.  Yet  what  it  would  have 
been,  seemingly,  so  natural  and  so  easy  to  do,  by  each  of  a 
great  number  of  men,  was  done  by  no  one. 

And  as  the  drawing  up  of  such  records  is  what  would  natu- 
rally have  occurred  to  men  of  any  nation,  situated  as  the 
Apostles  and  their  companions  were,  so,  it  seems  doubly  strange 


98  Evidences  of  Christianity.  [Part  I. 

that  this  should  not  have  occurred  to  Jews ;  to  men  brought  up 
under  that  Law  which  prescribed  with  such  minute  exactness 
all  the  ceremonials  of  their  worship, — all  the  Articles  of  their 
belief, — and  all  the  rules  they  were  to  observe. 

The  omission,  therefore,  which  we  have  been  speaking  of  is, 
on  all  natural  principles,  quite  unaccountable,  and,  indeed, 
incredible.  And  there  seems  no  way  of  explaining  it,  except 
by  concluding  that  the  Apostles  and  their  attendants  were 
Si^>'-naturally  restrained  from  drawing  up  any  such  written 
records  as  we  have  been  speaking  of.  "We  must  conclude  that 
divine  Providence  had  decreed  that  no  Canons,  Liturgies,  or 
Creeds,  &c,  should  form  any  part  of  Holy  Scripture ;  and  that, 
accordingly,  the  inspired  Writers  were  withheld  from  com- 
mitting any  to  paper. 

And  in  confirmation — if  any  confirmation  could  be  needed— 
of  what  we  have  now  been  saying,  we  find  that  soon  after  thS 
age  of  inspiration,  and  when  men  were  left  to  act  on  their  own 
judgment,  they  did  draw  up  Creeds  (several  of  which  have  come 
down  to  us),  Liturgies,  and  directions  for  the  celebration  of 
divine  worship,  called  the  '  Apostolical  Constitutions.'  Pliny 
records  the  custom  of  the  Christians  in  his  day  (in  the  early 
part  of  the  second  century),  of  singing  '  a  hymn  to  Christ  as 
God.'  This  is  supposed  by  some  to  have  been  that  which  we 
call  the  '  Te  Deum,'  or  some  portion  of  it.  But  at  any  rate  it 
must  have  been  something  written  down  and  learnt  by  the  con- 
gregation. Whatever  may  he  urged  in  behalf  of  extemporary 
prayers,  a  hymn  at  least  could  not  be  so.  And  these  composi- 
tions, though  professing  to  be  records  of  what  had  come  down 
by  tradition  from  the  times  of  the  Apostles  (which  is,  probably, 
in  part  true),  were  never  received  by  any  Church  as  Holy 
Scripture.  Even  the  Church  of  Rome,  which  pronounces  all 
traditions  sanctioned  by  itself,  of  equal  authority  with  Scripture, 
still  maintains  the  distinction.  It  has  never  inserted  in  the 
New  Testament  any  of  those  compositions  we  have  been  speak- 
ing of.  And  here  we  have,  by  the  way,  a  testimony  which 
would,  alone,  completely  refute  the  wild  theory  of  some  (so- 
called)  Theologians,  that  the  New  Testament  was  a  compilation 
drawn  up  in  the  third  or  fourth  Century  from  floating  Tradi- 
tions. It  would  be  a  sufficient  answer  (though  many  other 
disproofs  might  be  given)  to  remark,  that  in  that  case  it  would 
not  have  failed  to  contain  the  Liturgies.  Apostolic  Constitutions, 


Chap,  viii.]  Our  Historical  Scriptures.  99 

&c,  which  were  then  in  circulation  ; — and  in  circulation  with  a 
tradition  of  their  being  derived  from  the  Apostles.  Now,  ODe 
would  have  expected,  as  most  probable  (humanly  speaking),  that 
many  compositions  of  this  kind,  drawn  up  by  several  of  the 
Apostles  and  their  numerous  attendants,  would  have  come  down 
to  us  as  a  portion  of  the  New  Testament. 

But  that  no  one  of  them  should  have  committed  to  writing 
any  thing  of  the  kind,  is,  according  to  the  ordinary  course  of 
nature,  quite  incredible. 

We  have  here,  therefore,  in  this  omission,  a  standing  miracle  / 
— at  least,  a  monument  of  a  miracle.  The  christian  Scriptures, 
considered  in  this  point  of  view,  are  in  themselves  a  proof  of 
their  having  been  composed  under  superhuman  guidance ;  since 
they  do  not  contain  what  we  may  be  certain  they  would  have 
contained,  had  the  Writers  been  left  to  themselves. 

And  the  argument,  we  should  observe,  is  complete,  even 
though  we  should  be  quite  unable  to  perceive  the  wisdom  of 
this  ordinance  of  Providence,  or  at  all  to  conjecture  why  the 
sacred  Writers  were  thus  withheld  from  doing  what  they  must 
naturally  have  been  disposed  to  do.  For  if  the  gospel  was  not 
from  Man,  it  must  have  been  from  God.  Though  we  may  not 
be  able  always  to  explain  why  the  christian  Scriptures  are,  in 
each  point,  just  such  as  they  are,  still,  if  we  can  perceive  them 
to  be  such  as  they  certainly  would  not  have  been  if  composed  by 
unaided  Man,  we  must  conclude~that  the  Writers  were  divinely 
overruled. 


CHAPTER  VHI. 


There  is  satisfactory  evidence,  that  many  persons,  professing  to 
have  been  original  witnesses  of  the  christian  miracles,  passed 
their  lives  in  labors,  dangers,  and  sufferings,  voluntarily 
undergone  in  attestation  of  the  accounts  which  they  delivered, 
and  solely  in  consequence  of  their  belief  of  the  truth  of  those 
accounts  /  and  that  they  also  submitted,  from  the  same 
'motives,  to  new  rules  of  conduct. 

THAT  the  story  which  we  have  now  is,  in  the  main,  the 
story  which  the  apostles  published,  is,  I  think,  nearly  cer- 
tain from  the  considerations  which  have  been  proposed.     But 


100  Evidences  of  Christianity.  [Part  I. 

whether,  when  we  come  to  the  particulars  and  the  detail  of  the 
narrative,  the  historical  books  of  the  New  Testament  be  deserv- 
ing of  credit  as  histories,  so  that  a  fact  ought  to  be  accounted 
true  because  it  is  found  in  them ;  or  whether  they  are  entitled 
to  be  considered  as  representing  the  accounts,  which,  true  or 
false,  the  apostles  published  ;  whether  their  authority,  in  either 
of  these  views,  can  be  trusted  to,  is  a  point  which  necessarily 
depends  upon  what  we  know  of  the  books,  and  of  their 
authors. 

Now,  in  treating  of  this  part  of  our  argument,  the  first,  and 
a  most  material,  observation  upon  the  subject  is,  that  such  was 
the  situation  of  the  authors  to  whom  the  four  gospels  are 
ascribed,  that,  if  any  one  of  the  four  be  genuine,  it  is  sufficient 
for  our  purpose.  The  received  author  of  the  first  was  an 
original  apostle  and  emissary  of  the  religion.  The  received 
author  of  the  second  was  an  inhabitant  of  Jerusalem  at  tbfe 
time,  to  whose  house  the  apostles  were  wont  to  resort,  and  him- 
self an  attendant  upon  one  of  the  most  eminent  of  that  num- 
ber. The  received  author  of  the  third  was  a  stated  companion 
and  fellow-traveller  of  the  most  active  of  all  the  teachers  of  the 
religion,  and  in  the  course  of  his  travels  frequently  in  the 
society  of  the  original  apostles.  The  received  author  of  the 
fourth,  as  well  as  of  the  first,  was  one  of  these  apostles.  No 
stronger  evidence  of  the  truth  of  a  history  can  arise  from  the 
situation  of  the  historian  than  what  is  here  offered.  The 
authors  of  all  the  histories  lived  at  the  time,  and  upon  the  spot. 
The  authors  of  two  of  the  histories  were  present  at  many  of  the 
scene-  which  they  describe;  eye-witnesses  of  the  facts,  ear- 
witnesses  of  the  discourses;  writing  from  personal  knowledge 
and  recollection  ;  and,  what  strengthens  their  testimony,  writing 
upon  a  subjeel  in  which  their  minds  were  deeply  engaged,  and 
in  which,  as  they  must  have  been  very  frequently  repeating  the 
accounts  to  others,  the  passages  of  the  history  would  be  kept 
continually  alive  in  their  memory.  Whoever  reads  the  gospels 
(and  they  ought  to  be  read  forthis  particular  purpose)  will  find 
in  {hem  not  merely  a  general  affirmation  of  miraculous  powers, 
but  detailed  circumstantial  accounts  of  miracles,  with  specifica- 
tions of  ti ,  place,  and  persons;  and  these  accounts  many  and 

various.     In  the  gospels,  therefore,  which  bear  the  name  of 
Matthew  and  John,  these  narratives,  if  they  really  proceeded 


Chap,  viii.]  Our  Historical  Scriptures.  1\}1: 

from  these  men,  must  either  be  true,  as  far  as  the  fidelity  of 
human  recollection  is  usually  to  be  depended  upon,  that  is, 
must  be  true  in  substance,  and  in  their  principal  parts  (which 
is  sufficient  for  the  purpose  of  proving  a  supernatural  agency), 
or  they  must  be  wilful  and  meditated  falsehoods.  Yet  the 
writers  who  fabricated  and  uttered  these  falsehoods,  if  they  be 
such,  are  of  the  number  of  those  who,  unless  the  whole  con- 
texture of  the  christian  story  be  a  dream,  sacrificed  their  ease 
and  safety  in  the  cause,  and  for  a  purpose  the  most  inconsistent 
that  is  possible  with  dishonest  intentions.  They  were  villains 
for  no  end  but  to  teach  honesty,  and  martyrs  without  the  least ; 
prospect  of  honor  or  advantage. 

The  gospels  which  bear  the  name  of  Mark  and  Luke, 
although  not  the  narratives  of  eye-witnesses,  are,  if  genuine, 
removed  from  that  only  by  one  degree.  They  are  the  narra- 
tives of  contemporary  writers,  of  writers  themselves  mixing 
with  the  business,  one  of  the  two  probably  living  in  the  place 
which  was  the  principal  scene  of  action ;  both  living  in  habits 
of  society  and  correspondence  with  those  who  had  been  present 
at  the  transactions  which  they  relate.  The  latter  of  them 
accordingly  tells  us  (and  with  apparent  sincerity,  because  he 
tells  it  without  pretending  to  personal  knowledge,  and  without 
claiming  for  his  work  greater  authority  than  belonged  to  it), 
that  the  things  which  were  believed  amongst  Christians,  came 
from  those  who  from  the  beginning  were  eye-witnesses  and 
ministers  of  the  word  ;  that  he  had  traced  up  accounts  to  their 
source ;  and  that  he  was  prepared  to  instruct  his  reader  in  the 
certainty  of  the  things  which  he-  related.1  Very  few  histories 
lie  so  close  to  their  facts ;  very  few  historians  are  so  nearly 
connected  with  the  subject  of  their  narrative,  or  possess  such 
means  of  authentic  information  as  these. 

The  situation  of  the  writers  applies  to  the  truth  of  the  facts 
which  they  record.  But  at  present  we  use  their  testimony  to 
a  point  somewhat  short  of  this,  namely,  that  the  facts  recorded 
in  the  gospels,  whether  true  or  false,  are  the  facts,  and  the  sort 

1  Why  should  not  the  candid  and  modest  preface  of  this  historian  he  believed 
as  well  as  that  which  Dion  Cassias  prefixes  to  his  Life  of  Cummodus  ?  '  These  things 
and  the  following  I  write  not  from  the  report  of  others,  but  from  my  own  knowl- 
edge and  observation.'  I  see  no  reason  to  doubt  but  that  both  passages  describe 
truly  enough  the  situation  of  the  authors. 


102  ij'dences  of  Christianity.  [Parti. 

of  facts  which  the  original  preachers  of  the  religion  alleged. 
Strictly  speaking,  I  am  concerned  only  to  show,  that  what  the 
gospels  contain  is  the  same  as  what  the  apostles  preached.  Now 
how  stands  the  proof  of  this  point?  A  set  of  men  went  about 
the  world  publishing  a  story  composed  of  miraculous  accounts 
(for  miraculous  from  the  very  nature  and  exigency  of  the  case 
they  must  have  been),  and  upon  the  strength  of  these  accounts, 
called  upon  mankind  to  quit  the  religions  in  which  they  had 
been  educated,  and  to  take  up  from  thenceforth  a  new  system 
of  opinions,  and  new  rules  of  action.  What  is  more  in  attes- 
tation of  these  accounts,  that  is,  in  support  of  an  institution  of 
which  these  accounts  were  the  foundation,  the  same  men  vol- 
untarily exposed  themselves  to  harassing  and  perpetual  labors, 
dangers,  and  sufferings.  We  want  to  know  what  these  accounts 
were.  We  have  the  particulars  [i.e.  many  particulars]  from 
two  of  their  own  number.  We  have  them  from  an  attendant 
of  one  of  the  number,  and  who  there  is  reason  to  believe  was 
an  inhabitant  of  Jerusalem  at  the  time.  We  have  them  from 
a  fourth  writer,  who  accompanied  the  most  laborious  missionary 
of  the  institution  in  his  travels ;  who,  in  the  course  of  these 
travels,  was  frequently  brought  into  the  society  of  the  rest ; 
and  who,  let  it  be  observed,  begins  his  narrative  by  telling  us 
that  he  is  about  to  relate  the  things  which  had  been  delivered 
by  those  who  were  ministers  of  the  word  and  eye-witnesses  of 
the  fact.  I  do  not  know  what  information  can  be  more  satis- 
factory than  this.  We  may,  perhaps,  perceive  the  force  and 
value  of  it  more  sensibly,  if  we  reflect  how  requiring  we  should 
have  been  if  we  had  wanted  it.  Supposing  it  to  be  sulli- 
ciently  proved,  that  the  religion  now  professed  amongst  us, 
owed  its  original  to  the  preaching  and  ministry  of  a  number  of 
men,  who,  about  eighteen  centuries  ago,  set  forth  in  the  world 
a  new  system  of  religious  opinions,  founded  upon  certain  extra- 
ordinary things  which  they  related  of  a  wonderful  person  who 
had  appeared  in  Judea  ;  suppose  it  to  be  also  sufficiently  proved, 
that,  in  the  course  and  prosecution  of  their  ministry,  these  men 
had  subjected  themselves  to  extreme  hardships,  fatigue,  and 
peril ;  but  suppose  the  accounts  which  they  published  had  not 
been  committed  to  writing  till  some  ages  after  their  times,  or 
a1  leasl  that  no  histories,  but  what  had  been  composed  some 
ages  afterwards,  had  reached  our  hands ;  we  should  have  said, 


Chap,  viii.]  Our  Historical  Scriptures.  103 

and  with  reason,  that  we  were  willing  to  believe  these  men 
under  the  circumstances  in  which  they  delivered  their  testi- 
mony, but  that  we  did  not,  at  this  day,  know  with  sufficient 
evidence  what  their  testimony  was.  Had  we  received  the  par- 
ticulars of  it  from  any  of  their  own  number,  from  any  of  those 
who  lived  and  conversed  with  them,  from  any  of  their  hearers, 
or  even  from  any  of  their  contemporaries,  we  should  have  had 
something  to  rely  upon.  Now,  if  our  books  be  genuine,  we 
have  all  these.  "We  have  the  very  species  of  information  which, 
as  it  appears  to  me,  our  imagination  would  have  carved  out  for 
us,  if  it  had  been  wanting. 

But  I  have  said,  that,  if  any  one  of  the  four  gospels  be 
genuine,  we  have  not  only  direct  historical  testimony  to  the 
point  we  contend  for,  but  testimony  which,  so  far  as  that  point 
is  concerned,  cannot  reasonably  be  rejected.  If  the  first  gospel 
was  really  written  by  Matthew,  we  have  the  narrative  of  one 
of  the  number  from  which  to  judge  what  were  the  miracles, 
and  the  kind  of  miracles,  which  the  apostles  attributed  to 
Jesus.  Although  for  argument's  sake,  and  only  for  argument's 
sake,  we  should  allow  that  this  gospel  had  been  erroneously 
ascribed  to  Matthew  ;  yet,  if  the  gospel  of  St.  John  be  genuine, 
the  observation  holds  with  no  less  strength.  Again,  although 
the  gospels  both  of  Matthew  and  John  could  be  supposed  to 
be  spurious,  yet,  if  the  gospel  of  St.  Luke  was  truly  the  com- 
position of  that  person,  or  of  any  person,  be  his  name  what  it 
might,  who  was  actually  in  the  situation  in  which  the  author 
of  that  gospel  professes  himself  to  have  been  ;  or  if  the  gospel 
which  bears  the  name  of  Mark  really  proceeded  from  him  ;  we 
still,  even  upon  the  lowest  supposition,  possess  the  accounts  of 
one  writer  at  least,  who  was  not  only  contemporary  with  the 
apostles,  but  associated  with  them  in  their  ministry  ;  which 
authority  seems  sufficient,  when  the  question  is  simply  what  it 
was  which  these  apostles  advanced. 

I  think  it  material  to  have  this  well  noticed.  The  New 
Testament  contains  a  great  number  of  distinct  writings,  the 
genuineness  of  any  one  of  which  is  almost  sufficient  to  prove 
the  truth  of  the  religion  :  it  contains,  however,  four  distinct 
histories,  the  genuineness  of  any  one  of  which  is  perfectly  suffi- 
cient. If,  therefore,  we  must  be  considered  as  encountering 
the  risk  of  error  in  assigning  the  authors  of  our  books,  we  are 


104  Evidences  of  Christianity.  [Part  I. 

entitled  to  the  advantage  of  so  many  separate  probabilities. 
And  although  it  should  appear  that  some  of  the  evangelists  had 
seen  and  used  each  other's  works,  this  discovery,  whilst  it 
subtracts  indeed  from  their  character  as  testimonies  strictly 
independent,  diminishes,  I  conceive,  little,  either  their  separate 
authority,  by  which  I  mean  the  authority  of  any  one  that  is 
genuine,  or  their  mutual  confirmation.  For,  let  the  most  dis- 
advantageous supposition  possible  be  made  concerning  them  ; 
let  it  be  allowed,  what  I  should  have  no  great  difficulty  in  ad- 
mitting, that  Mark  compiled  his  history  almost  entirely  from 
those  of  Matthew  and  Luke  ;  and  let  it  also,  for  a  moment,  be 
supposed  that  these  histories  were  not,  in  fact,  written  by 
Matthew  and  Luke  ;  yet,  if  it  be  true  that  Mark,  a  contem- 
porary of  the  apostles,  living  in  habits  of  society  with  the 
apostles,  a  fellow-traveller  and  fellow-laborer  with  some  of 
them  ;  if,  I  say,  it  be  true  that  this  person  made  the  compila- 
tion, it  follows,  that  the  writings  from  which  he  made  it  existed 
in  the  time  of  the  apostles,  and  not  only  so,  but  that  they  were 
then  in  such  esteem  and  credit  that  a  companion  of  the  apostles 
formed  a  history  out  of  them.  Let  the  gospel  of  Mark  be 
called  an  epitome  of  that  of  Matthew  ;  if  a  person  in  the  situa- 
tion in  which  Mark  is  described  to  have  been,  actually  made 
the  epitome,  it  affords  the  strongest  possible  attestation  to  the 
character  of  the  original. 

Again,  parallelisms,  in  sentences,  in  words,  and  in  the  order 
of  words,  have  been  traced  out  between  the  gospel  of  Matthew 
and  that  of  Luke  ;  which  concurrence  cannot  easily  be  explained 
otherwise  than  by  supposing,  either  that  Luke  had  consulted 
Matthew's  history,  or,  what  appears  to  me  in  no  wise  incredible, 
that  minutes  of  some  of  Christ's  discourses,  as  well  as  brief  me- 
moirs of  some  passages  of  his  life  had  been  committed  to  writing 
at  the  time,  and  that  such  written  accounts  had  by  both  authors 
been  occasionally  admitted  into  their  histories.  Either  suppo- 
sition is  perfectly  consistent  with  the  acknowledged  formation 
of  St.  Luke's  narrative,  who  professes  not  to  write  as  an  eye- 
witness, hut  to  have  investigated  the  original  of  every  account 
which  hi'  delivers  ;  in  other  words,  to  have  collected  them  from 
such  documents  ami  testimonies,  as  he,  who  had  the  best  oppor- 
tunities of  making  inquiries,  judged  to  he  authentic.  Therefore, 
allowing  that  this  wrriter  also,  in  some  instances,  borrowed  from 


Chap,  viii.]  Our  Historical  Scriptures.  105 

the  gospel  which  we  call  Matthew's,  and  once  more  allowing,  for 
the  sake  of  stating  the  argument,  that  that  gospel  was  not  the  pro- 
duction of  the  author  to  whom  we  ascribe  it;  yet  still  we  have, 
in  St.  Luke's  gospel,  a  history  given  by  a  writer  immediately 
connected  with  the  transaction,  with  the  witnesses  of  it,  with  the 
persons  engaged  in  it,  and  composed  from  materials  which  that 
person,  thus  situated,  deemed  to  be  safe  sources  of  intelligence ; 
in  other  words,  whatever  supposition  be  made  concerning  any 
or  all  the  other  gospels,  if  St.  Luke's  Gospel  be  genuine,  we 
have  in  it  a  credible  evidence  of  the  point  which  we  maintain. 

The  gospel  according  to  St.  John  appears  to  be,  and  is  on  all 
hands  allowed  to  be,  an  independent  testimony,  strictly  and  pro- 
perly so  called.  Notwithstanding,  therefore,  any  connection, 
or  supposed  connection,  between  some  of  the  gospels,  I  again 
repeat,  what  I  before  said,  that,  if  any  one  of  the  four  be  gen- 
uine, we  have,  in  that  one,  strong  reason,  from  the  character 
and  situation  of  the  writer,  to  believe  that  we  possess  the 
accounts  which  the  original  emissaries  of  the  religion  delivered. 

II.  In  treating  of  the  written  evidences  of  Christianity,  next 
to  their  separate,  we  are  to  consider  their  aggregate  authority. 
Now,  there  is  in  the  evangelic  history  a  cumulation  of  testimony 
which  belongs  hardly  to  any  other  history,  but  which  our 
habitual  mode  of  reading  the  scriptures  sometimes  causes  us  to 
overlook.  When  a  passage,  in  any  wise  relating  to  the  history 
of  Christ,  is  read  to  us  out  of  the  epistle  of  Clemens  Romanus, 
the  epistles  of  Ignatius,  of  Polycarp,  or  from  any  other  writing 
of  that  age,  we  are  immediately  sensible  of  the  confirmation 
which  it  affords  to  the  scripture  account.  Here  is  a  new  wit- 
ness. Now,  if  we  had  been  accustomed  to  read  the  gospel  of 
Matthew  alone,  and  had  known  that  of  Luke  only  as  the 
generality  of  Christians  know  the  writings  of  the  apostolical 
fathers,  that  is,  had  known  that  such  a  writing  was  extant  and 
acknowledged  ;  when  we  came,  for  the  first  time,  to  look  into 
what  it  contained,  and  found  many  of  the  facts  which  Matthew 
recorded,  recorded  also  there,  many  other  facts  of  a  similar 
nature  added,  and  throughout  the  whole  work  the  same  general 
series  of  transactions  stated,  and  the  same  general  character  of 
the  person  who  was  the  subject  of  the  history  preserved,  I 
apprehend  that  we  should  feel  our  minds  strongly  impressed  by 
this  discovery  of  fresh  evidence.     We  should  feel  a  renewal  of 


106  Evidences  of  Christianity.  [Part  I. 

the  same  sentiment  in  first  reading  the  gospel  of  St.  John. 
That  of  St.  Mark  perhaps  would  strike  us  as  an  abridgment  of 
the  history  with  which  we  were  already  acquainted ;  but  we 
should  naturally  reflect,  that  if  that  history  was  abridged  by 
such  a  person  as  Mark,  or  by  any  person  of  so  early  an  age,  it 
afforded  one  of  the  highest  possible  attestations  to  the  value  of 
the  work.  This  successive  disclosure  of  proof  would  leave  us 
assured,  that  there  must  have  been  at  least  some  reality  in  a 
story  which,  not  one,  but  many,  had  taken  in  hand  to  commit 
to  writing.  The  very  existence  of  four  separate  histories  would 
satisfy  us  that  the  subject  had  a  foundation  ;  and  when,  amidst 
the  variety  which  the  ditferent  information  of  the  different 
writers  had  supplied  to  their  accounts,  or  which  their  different 
choice  and  judgment  in  selecting  their  materials  had  produced, 
we  observed  many  facts  to  stand  the  same  in  all ;  of  th$se 
facts,  at  least,  we  should  conclude,  that  they  were  fixed  in  their 
credit  and  publicity.  If,  after  this,  we  should  come  to  the 
knowledge  of  a  distinct  history,  and  that  also  of  the  same  age 
with  the  rest,  taking  up  the  subject  where  the  others  had  left 
it,  and  carrying  on  a  narrative  of  the  effects  produced  in  the 
world  by  the  extraordinary  causes  of  which  we  had  already  been 
informed,  and  which  effects  subsist  at  this  day,  we  should  think 
the  reality  of  the  original  story  in  no  little  degree  established 
by  this  supplement.  If  subsequent  inquiries  should  bring  to 
our  knowledge,  one  after  another,  letters  written  by  some  of 
the  principal  agents  in  the  business,  upon  the  business,  and 
during  the  time  of  their  activity  and  concern  in  it,  assuming  all 
along  and  recognizing  the  original  story,  agitating  the  ques- 
tions that  arose  out  of  it,  pressing  the  obligations  which  re- 
sulted from  it,  giving  advice  and  directions  to  those  who  acted 
upon  it ;  I  conceive  that  we  should  find,  in  every  one  of  these, 
a  still  further  support  to  the  conclusion  we  had  formed.  At 
present  the  weight  of  this  successive  confirmation  is,  in  a  great 
measure,  unperceived  by  us.  The  evidence  does  not  appear  to 
us  what  it  is;  for,  being  from  our  infancy  accustomed  to  re- 
gard the  Xew  Testament  as  one  book,  we  see  in  it  only  one 
testimony.  The  whole  occurs  to  us  as  a  single  evidence ;  and 
its  differenl  parts,  not  as  distinct  attestations,  but  as  different 
portions  only  of  the  same.  Yet  in  this  conception  of  the  sub- 
ject we  are  certainly  mistaken;   for  the  very  discrepancies 


Chap,  viii.]  Our  Historical  Scriptures.  107 

amongst  the  several  documents  which  form  our  volume,  prove, 
if  all  other  proof  were  wanting,  that  in  their  original  composi- 
tion they  were  separate,  and  most  of  them  independent  pro- 
ductions. 

If  we  dispose  our  ideas  in  a  different  order,  the  matter 
stands  thus : — Whilst  the  transaction  was  recent,  and  the 
original  witnesses  were  at  hand  to  relate  it ;  and  whilst  the 
apostles  were  busied  in  preaching  and  travelling,  in  collecting 
disciples,  in  forming  and  regulating  societies  of  converts,  in 
supporting  themselves  against  opposition  ;  whilst  they  exercised 
their  ministry  under  the  harassings  of  frequent  persecution,  and 
in  a  state  of  almost  continual  alarm,  it  is  not  probable  that,  in 
this  engaged,  anxious,  and  unsettled  condition  of  life,  they 
would  think  immediately  of  writing  histories  for  the  informa- 
tion of  the  public  or  of  posterity.1  But  it  is  very  probable,  that 
emergencies  might  draw  from  some  of  them  occasional  letters 
upon  the  subject  of  their  mission,  to  converts,  or  to  societies  of 
converts,  with  which  they  were  connected  ;  or  that  they  might 
address  written  discourses  and  exhortations  to  the  disciples  of 
the  institution  at  large,  which  would  be  received  and  read  with 
a  respect  proportional  to  the  character  of  the  writer.  Accounts 
in  the  mean  time  would  get  abroad  of  the  extraordinary  things 
that  had  been  passing,  written  with  different  degrees  of  infor- 
mation and  correctness.  The  extension  of  the  christian  society, 
which  could  no  longer  be  instructed  by  a  personal  intercourse 
with  the  apostles,  and  the  possible  circulation  of  imperfect  or 
erroneous  narratives,  would  soon  teach  some  amongst  them  the 
expediency  of  sending  forth  authentic  memoirs  of  the  life  and 
doctrine  of  their  master.  When  accounts  appeared,  authorized 
by  the  name,  and  credit,  and  situation  of  the  writers,  recom- 
mended or  recognized  by  the  apostles  and  first  preachers  of 
the  religion,  or  found  to  coincide  with  what  the  apostles  and 
first  preachers  of  the  religion  had  taught,  other  accounts  would 
fall  into  disuse  and  neglect;  whilst  these,  maintaining  their 
reputation  (as,  if  genuine  and  well  founded,  they  would  do) 
under  the  test  of  time,  inquiry,  and  contradiction,  might  be 

1  This  thought  occurred  to  Eusebius— '  Nor  were  the  Apostles  of  Christ  greatly 
concerned  about  the  writing  of  books,  being  engaged  in  a  more  excellent  ministry, 
which  is  above  all  human  power.' — Eccles.  Hid.  1.  iii.  c.  24.  The  same  considera- 
tion accounts  also  for  the  paucity  of  christian  writings  in  the  first  century  of  its  era. 


108  Evidences  of  Christianity.  [Part  I. 

expected  to  make  their  way  into  the  hands  of  Christians  of 
all  countries  of  the  world. 

This  seems  the  natural  progress  of  the  business;  and  with 
this  the  records  in  our  possession,  and  the  evidence  concerning 
them,  correspond.    We  have  remaining,  in  the  tirst  place,  many 
letters  of  the  kind  above  described,  which  have  been  preserved 
with  a  care  and  fidelity  answering  to  the  respect  with  which  we 
may  suppose  that  such  letters  would  be  received.    But  as  these 
letters  were  not  written  to  prove  the  truth  of  the  christian 
religion  in   the  sense  in  which  we  regard  that  question  ;  nor 
to  convey  information  of  facts,  of  which  those  to  whom  the 
letters  were  written  had  been  previously  informed  ;  we  are  not 
to  look  in  them  for  any  thing  more  than  incidental  allusions  to 
christian    history.      We    are    able,    however,   to   gather   from 
these  documents  various  particular  attestations  which  have  been 
already  enumerated  ;  and  this  is  a  species  of  written  evidence, 
as  far  as  it  goes,  in  the  highest  degree  satisfactory,  and  in  point 
of  time  perhaps  the  first.      But  for  our  own  circumstantial 
information  we   have,  in  the  next  place,  five  direct  histories, 
bearing   the  names  of  persons  acquainted,  by  their  slfmrrtoTr, 
with  the  truth  of  what  they  relate,  and  three  of  them  purport- 
ing, in   the  very  body  of  the  narrative,  to  be  written  by  such 
persons  ;  of  which  books  we  know  that  some  were  in  the  hands 
of  those  who  were  contemporaries  of  the  apostles,  and  that,  in 
the  age  immediately  posterior  to  that,  they  were  in  the  hands, 
we  may  say.  of  every  one,  and  received  by  Christians  with  so 
much  respect  and  deference,  as  to  be  constantly  quoted  and 
referred   to  by  them  without  any  doubt  of  the  truth  of  their 
accounts.    They  were  treated  as  such  histories,  proceeding  from 
such  authorities,  might  expect  to  be  treated.    In  the  preface  to 
one  of  our  histories  we  have  intimations  left  us  of  the  existence 
of  some  ancient  accounts  which  arc  now  lost.    There  is  nothing 
in   this    circumstance    that    can    surprise    us.      It    was    to    be 
expected,  from  the  magnitude  and  novelty  of  the  occasion,  that 
such  accounts  would  swarm.   When  better  accounts  came  forth, 
these   died   away.      Our  present  histories  superseded  others. 
They  soon  acquired  a  character  and  established  a  reputation 
which  does  not  appear  to  have  belonged  to  any  other:   that,  at 
least,  can  be  proved  concerning  them,  which  cannot  be  proved 
concernin<r  any  other. 


Chap,  viii.]  Our  Historical  Scriptures.  109 

But  to  return  to  the  point  which  led  to  these  reflections. 
By  considering  our  records  in  either  of  the  two  views  in  which 
we  have  represented  them,  we  shall  perceive  that  we  possess  a 
collection  of  proofs,  and  not  a  naked  or  solitary  testimony  ; 
and  that  the  written  evidence  is  of  such  a  kind,  and  comes  to 
us  in  such  a  state,  as  the  natural  order  and  progress  of  things, 
in  the  infancy  of  the  institution,  might  be  expected  to  produce. 

Thirdly  :  The  genuineness  of  the  historical  books  of  the 
New  Testament  is  undoubtedly  a  point  of  importance,  because 
the  strength  of  their  evidence  is  augmented  by  our  knowledge  ' 
of  the  situation  of  their  authors,  their  relation  to  the  subjeqt, 
and  the  part  which  they  sustained  in  the  transaction  ;  and  the 
testimonies  which  we  are  able  to  produce,  compose  a  firm 
ground  of  persuasion  that  the  gospels  were  written  by  the 
persons  whose  names  they  bear.  Nevertheless,  I  must  be 
allowed  to  state,  that  to  the  argument  which  I  am  endeavor- 
ing to  maintain,  this  point  is  not  essential ;  I  mean  so  essential 
that  the  fate  of  the  argument  depends  upon  it.  The  question 
before  us  is,  whether  the  gospels  exhibit  the  story  which  the 
apostles  and  first  emissaries  of  the  religion  published,  and  for 
which  they  acted  and  suffered  in  the  manner  in  which,  for  some 
miraculous  story  or  other,  they  did  act  and  suffer.  Now  let  us 
suppose  that  we  possessed  no  other  information  concerning 
these  books  than  that  they  were  written  by  early  disciples  of 
Christianity  ;  that  they  were  known  and  read  during  the  time,  or 
near  the  time,  of  the  original  apostles  of  the  religion  ;  that  by 
Christians  whom  the  apostles  instructed,  by  societies  of  Christians 
which  the  apostles  founded,  these  books  were  received  (by  which 
term  'received,'  I  mean  that  they  were  believed  to  contain 
authentic  accounts  of  the  transaction  upon  which  the  religion 
rested,  and  accounts  which  were  accordingly  used,  repeated, 
and  relied  upon),  this  reception  would  be  a  valid  proof  that 
these  books,  whoever  were  the  authors  of  them,  must  have 
accorded  with  what  the  apostles  taught.  A  reception  by  the 
first  race  of  Christians  is  evidence  that  they  agreed  with  what 
the  first  teachers  of  the  religion  delivered.  In  particular,  if 
they  had  not  agreed  with  what  the  apostles  themselves  preached, 
how  could  they  have  gained  credit  in  churches  and  societies 
which  the  apostles  established  ? 

Now  the  fact  of  their  early  existence,  and  not  only  of  their 


110  Evidences  of  Christianity.  [Part  I. 

existence,  but  their  reputation,  is  made  out  by  some  ancient 
testimonies  which  do  not  happen  to  specify  the  names  of  the 
writers  :  add  to  which,  what  hath  been  already  hinted,  that  two 
out  of  the  four  gospels  contain  averments  in  the  body  of  the 
history,  which,  though  they  do  not  disclose  the  names,  fix  the 
time  and  situation  of  the  authors,  viz.  that  one  was  written 
by  an  eye-witness  of  the  sufferings  of  Christ,  the  other  by  a 
contemporary  of  the  apostles.  In  the  gospel  of  St.  John 
[xix.  35],  after  describing  the  crucifixion,  with  the  particular 
circumstance  of  piercing  Christ's  side  with  a  spear,  the  historian 
adds,  as  for  himself,  '  and  he  that  saw  it  bare  record,  and  his 
record  is  true,  and  he  knoweth  that  he  saith  true,  that  ye  might 
believe.'  Again  [xxi.  24],  after  relating  a  conversation  which 
passed  between  Peter  and  the  disciple,  as  it  is  there  expressed, 
whom  Jesus  loved,  it  is  added,  '  this  is  the  disciple  which^tes- 
tifieth  of  these  things  and  wrote  these  things.'  This  testimony, 
let  it  be  remarked,  is  not  the  less  worthy  of  regard  because  it 
is  in  one  view  imperfect.  The  name  is  not  mentioned  ;  which, 
if  a  fraudulent  purpose  had  been  intended,  would  have  been 
done.  The  third  of  our  present  gospels  purports  to  have  been 
written  by  the  person  who  wrote  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles ;  in 
which  latter  history,  or  rather  latter  part  of  the  same  history, 
the  author,  by  using  in  various  places  the  first  person  plural, 
declares  himself  to  have  been  a  contemporary  of  all,  and  a  com- 
panion of  one  of  the  original  preachers  of  the  religion. 


ANNOTATIONS. 

'  The  Authors  of  all  the  histories  lived  at  the  time,  and  on 

the  spot.'' 

Among  the  many  points  of  internal  evidence  which  go  to  re- 
fute the  hypothesis  of  some  German  Neologists — of  the  Gospels 
being  a  compilation  from  some  floating  traditions  of  the  third 
or  fourth  century — one  is,  the  designation  of  our  Lord  by  his 
name  'Jesus,'  by  which,  of  course,  lie  was  known  during  his 
abode  on  earth.  Other  christian  writers — and  even  the  same, 
in  their  Epistles  to  Christians  (and  Matthew  and  Mark,  in  the 


Chap,  viii.]  Annotations.  Ill 

titles  prefixed  to  their  Gospels) — naturally  designate  Him  by 
his  title,  as  Christ.  And  it  is  inconceivable  that  such  inarti- 
ficial and  unpractised  writers  as  the  Evangelists,  would,  if  they 
had  lived  two  or  three  hundred  years  later,  have  avoided,  in 
their  compilations,  the  mode  of  expression  commonly  in  use 
among  them.  That  Contemporaries,  on  the  other  hand,  should 
write  as  the  Evangelists  have  written,  is  just  what  was  to  be 
expected.  How  natural,  on  the  other  hand,  it  would  have  been 
for  writers  at  a  later  period  to  use  the  word  '  Christ'  or  '  Jesus 
Christ'  where  the  Evangelists  have  used  '  Jesus,'  is  shown  by 
the  headings  of  Chapters  in  our  Authorized  Yersion,  where  we 
continually  read  '  Christ,'  while  Jesus  is  in  the  text.  And  this 
leads  many  readers  to  overlook  the  circumstance  just  men- 
tioned. Indeed  the  ignorant  or  thoughtless  are  apt  to  suppose 
the  divisions  into  Chapters  to  be  the  work  of  the  Sacred  Writers ; 
and  to  mistake  those  Headings  for  Scripture  ;  or  at  least  to  for- 
get that  they  are  not  so.1 

In  the  passages  where  we  read,  '  One  is  your  Master,  even 
Christ,"1  and  '"'because  ye  belong  to  Christ]  there  is  good  reason 
to  conclude  that  a  gloss  has  crept  into  the  text.  For,  it  would 
have  been  quite  at  variance  with  our  Lord's  practice  if  He  had 
proclaimed  Himself  as  the  Christ,  instead  of  leaving  men — as 
He  did — to  draw  that  inference  for  themselves.2  But  as  a  gloss 
[an  explanatory  note]  the  insertion  of  the  words  is  very  natural. 

In  the  passage  where  we  read  [Matt,  xi.]  that  '  John  had 
heard  in  the  prison  the  works  of  [the]  Christ,'  the  meaning 
doubtless  is  that  he  had  heard  of  Jesus  performing  such  works 
as  had  been  the  predicted  signs  of  the  promised  Messiah  or 
Christ;  and  sent  to  ask  for  a  confirmation  of  that  evidence. 
And  Jesus  accordingly  replies  by  a  reference  to  the  very  pro- 
phecy in  question  [Isai.  xxxv.],  '  Go  and  tell  John  what  things 
ye  have  seen.' 

What  has  been  said  of  the  word  '  Christ,'  holds  good  in  re- 

1  This  blunder  seems  to  have  been  committed  in  a  Theological  Dictionary  in  con- 
siderable circulation  ;  which  says,  under  the  head  of  Deacon,  that  '  the  first  place 
where  the  Deacons  are  so  called  in  Scripture,  is  in  ch.  vi.  of  Acts,'  though  the 
word  never  once  occurs  in  the  whole  Book  of  Acts. 

2  It  was  only  to  the  woman  of  Samaria,  which  was  not  the  usual  scene  of  his 
ministry,  and  to  his  Apostles  in  private,  after  Peter  had  of  himself  drawn  the  in- 
ference, and  finally  when  solemnly  adjured  by  the  High  Priest,  that  he  Himself 
claimed  t\m  title. 


112  Evidences  of  Christianity.  [Part  I. 

ference  to  the  word  '  Christian,'  which  the  Sacred  Writers  never 
apply  to  those  who  embraced  the  Gospel ;  though  it  was  in  use 
in  their  time,  and  was  generally  adopted  soon  after,  as  it  has 
been  ever  since.1  The  word  occurs  but  thrice  in  the  New 
Testament,  and  never,  as  applied  by  Christians  to  each  other. 
They  are  called  '  Saints,'  '  Brethren,'  '  Elect,'  and  by  other 
titles  which  belonged  to  God's  People  of  old. 

The  Gospels,  however,  doubtless  were,  in  some  degree,  a 
compilation  from  records  written  by  several  Disciples  shortly 
after  our  Lord's  ascension ;  some  probably  in  Hebrew,  and  some, 
in  Greek ;  each  recording  some  transactions  or  discourses  at 
which  he  had  been  present.  Sometimes  we  find  in  two  of  the 
Evangelists  passages  word  for  word  the  same.  In  these  cases 
probably  both  had  access  to  the  same  Greek  Record.  Some- 
times we  find  all  the  details  exactly  the  same,  in  matt&r,  but 
with  a  slight  difference  in  the  words.  In  these  cases,  no  doubt, 
they  used  the  same  Hebrew  Record ;  each  translating  it  for 
himself  into  Greek.  And  sometimes,  again,  we  find  a  '  general' 
agreement  in  two  passages,  but  with  a  slight  variation  in  the 
details  ;  just  as  one  might  expect  in  the  reports  given  by  two 
independent  witnesses. 

The  four  Gospels  would  naturally  absorb,  and  soon  super- 
sede those  smaller  detached  portions  of  history.  But  there  is 
probably  one — the  history  of  the  woman  taken  in  adultery — 
thai  was  not  originally  inserted  in  any  of  them.  Where  it  now 
stands,  it  has  the  air  of  an  interpolation;  and  in  some  MSS. 
it  is  absent  altogether;  while  in  some  it  appears  in  Luke's 
Gospel  and  not  in  John's.  Probably  ir  was  inserted  in  this 
last,  after  John's  time,  as  being  a  narrative  admitted  to  be 
authentic,  but  too  short  to  form  a  distinct  book. 

As  comjiositions,  the  four  Gospels  are,  as  I  have  above  re- 
marked, strikingly  inartificial  and  unstudied.  A  circumstance 
which  many  readers  overlook,  is,  that  the  first  three  of  them 
give  no  accounl  of  the  first  opening  of  our  Lord's  ministry, — 
his  'beginning  of  miracles;' — but  speak  of  Him  as  preaching 
in  a  tone  of  high  authority,  and  being  listened  to,  and  calling 
Disciples,  and  being  followed —  before  any  mention  is  made  of 
mighty  works   done   by    Him.     But  for   the   supply  of  this 


1  Si't-  Senium  on  Christian  Sumts. 


Cnap.  viii.]  Annotation*.  113 

omission  which  John's  Gospel  supplies,  any  one  of  the  other 
histories  would  have  appeared,  at  the  present  day,  hardly 
credible.  For,  an  obscure  peasant  claiming  to  be  a  messenger 
from  Heaven,  yet  displaying  no  miraculous  signs,  would  never 
have  been  listened  to  by  any  one.  But  the  Evangelists  were 
writing  for  men  among  whom  it  was,  and  had  long  been, 
notorious  that  Jesus  did  display  such  signs.  '  For  these  things 
were  not  done  in  a  corner.' 

That  any  one  should  reject  Christianity,  and  pronounce  its 
Founder  an  impostor,  and  the  history  a  string  of  fables,  this, 
however  irrational,  is  at  least  intelligible.  But  that  any  one 
professing  Christianity  should  speak  of  Jesus  (which  some  have 
done)  as  not  Himself  appealing  to  his  miracles  as  evidence  of 
his  divine  mission,  is  something  quite  inexplicable. 

4  These  letters  were  not  written  to  prove  the  truth  of  the  christian 

religion? 

The  once-notorious  Tom  Paine  says  of  Paul's  Epistles,  that 
'  the  author,  whoever  he  was,  attempts  to  prove  his  religion  by 
arguments.' 

If  in  any  other  subject  besides  religion  a  man  were  to  fall 
into  such  absurdities,  as  in  that  subject  one  may  often  meet  with, 
he  would  be  regarded  as  an  idiot.  Suppose  for  instance  an 
agricultural  treatise,  giving  directions  for  the  best  mode  of 
cultivating  corn  and  rearing  cattle ;  and  that  some  reader  of  it 
should  remark,  '  the  author,  whoever  he  was,  attempts  to  prove 
by  arguments  that  corn  and  flesh  afford  nutriment,  and  will 
command  a  price  in  the  markets :'  this  would  be  a  parallel  to 
Paine's  remark. 

And  again,  suppose  some  other  reader  of  the  same  treatise, 
should,  on  perceiving  that  there  is  no  argument  of  the  kind  in 
it,  infer  that  the  author  did  not  know,  or  did  not  believe,  that 
bread  is  fit  for  food,  or  that  corn  and  cattle  are  of  any  use, 
this  would  be  a  parallel  to  what  has  been  advanced  since 
Paine's  time.  For  some  writers  have  actually  inferred  from  the 
absence  in  Paul's  Epistles,  of  reference  to  the  miracles  of  Jesus, 
that  he  either  did  not  believe  them,  or  else  regarded  them  as 
furnishing  no  evidence.  A  man  of  plain  good  sense,  untainted 
with  German  theories,  would  draw  the  opposite  conclusion. 

8 


114  Evidences  of  Christianity.  [Part  I. 

He  would  remember  that  these  Epistles  were  addressed  to 
Christians; — to  men  who  had  embraced  the  Gospel,  and 
acknowledged  Jesus  of  Nazareth  as  sent  from  God,  on  the 
strength  of  the  '  mighty  works'  which  alone  could  have  obtained 
for  Him  a  reception  from  any  one.  If  then  these  Epistles  had 
contained  assertions  of  those  mighty  works,  this  might  have 
excited  a  reasonable  suspicion  that  the  miraculous  facts  were 
not  fully  admitted,  or  else  that  the  Epistles  were  forgeries. 
But  these  facts  being  admitted,  in  order  for  these  men  to  have 
become  Christians,  any  allusion  to  them  in  those  Epistles  would 
have  been  unnecessary  and  unnatural. 

The  Apostle  does  sometimes  refer  to  his  own  miracles  (as  to 
something  perfectly  well  known)  in  addressing  those  among 
whom  rival  teachers  had  crept  in  who  sought  to  disparage  him. 
But  if  he  had  strongly  and  frequently  dwelt  on  these  j  his 
miraculous  powers,  this  would  have  given  some  ground  for  sus- 
pecting that  they  were  not  universally  and  fully  admitted. 

A  Lecturer  in  the  higher  branches  of  Mathematics  does  not 
occupy  an  advanced  class  of  pupils  with  demonstrations  of  the 
first  Book  of  Euclid's  Elements.  And  if  it  should  thence  be 
inferred  that  he  did  not  assent  to  those  demonstrations,  we 
should  think  this  a  very  strange  kind  of  reasoning. 

It  has  been  inferred,  in  like  manner,  that  Jesus  Himself  laid 
no  stress  on  miraculous  signs,  because,  in  his  conversation  with 
Nicodemus,  He  does  not  dwell  on  them.  It  would  have  been 
strange  if  He  had  ;  considering  that  this  man  had  just  said 
'  We  know  that  Thou  art  a  teacher  sent  from  God  ;  for  no  man 
can  do  these  miracles  that  Thou  doest,  except  God  be  with 
him.'  If  Nicixk'mus  had  been  in  any  doubt,  then  Jesus  would, 
we  must  suppose,  have  said  to  him,  as  He  did  to  some  others, 
'•The  works  thai  I  do  in  my  Father's  name,  they  bear  witness 
of  in*'/  But  Nicodemns  being  already  convinced  of  his  divine 
mission,  nci-dod  only  a  correction  of  his  erroneous  notions  con- 
cerning the  character  of  the  kingdom  of  the  Messiah  ;  whom  he 
expected  (as  did  all  the  Jews)  to  be  a  great  temporal  prince 
and  conqueror,  founding  an  empire  of  which  the  Jews  by  birth 
were  to  be  the  subjects. 


Chap,  ix.]  Authenticity  of  the  Historical  Scriptures.  115 


CHAPTER  IX. 

There  is  satisfactory  evidence  that  many  persons,  professing  to 
he  original  witnesses  of  the  christian  miracles,  passed  their 
lives  in  labors,  dangers,  and  sufferings,  voluntarily  under- 
gone in  attestation  of  the  accounts  which  they  delivered,  and 
solely  in  consequence  of  their  belief  of  the  truth  of  those 
accounts ;  and  that  they  also  submitted,  from  the  same 
motives,  to  new  rules  of  conduct. 

'  Of  the  Authenticity  of  the  Scriptures.'1 

"ATOT  forgetting,  therefore,  what  credit  is  due  to  the  evangelic 
JAI  history,  supposing  even  any  one  of  the  four  gospels  to  be 
genuine  ;  what  credit  is  due  to  the  gospels,  even  supposing 
nothing  to  be  known  concerning  them  but  that  they  were 
written  by  early  disciples  of  the  religion,  and  received  with 
deference  by  early  christian  churches  ;  more  especially  not  for 
getting  what  credit  is  due  to  the  New  Testament  in  its  capacity  of 
cumulative  evidence ;  we  now  proceed  to  state  the  proper  and  dis- 
tinct proofs,  which  show  not  only  the  general  value  of  these  records, 
but  their  specific  authority,  and  the  high  probability  there  is 
that  they  actually  came  from  the  persons  whose  names  they  bear. 

There  are,  however,  a  few  preliminary  reflections,  by  which 
we  may  draw  up  with  more  regularity  to  the  propositions  upon 
which  the  close  and  particular  discussion  of  the  subject  depends. 
Of  which  nature  are  the  following : 

I.  We  are  able  to  produce  a  great  number  of  ancient  manu- 
scripts, found  in  many  different  countries,  and  in  countries 
widely  distant  from  each  other,  all  of  them  anterior  to  the  art 
of  printing,  some  certainly  seven  or  eight  hundred  years  old, 
and  some  which  have  been  preserved  probably  above  a  thousand 
years.2  We  have  also  many  ancient  versions  of  these  books, 
and  some  of  them  into  languages  which  are  not  at  present,  nor 
for  many  ages  have  been,  spoken  in  any  part  the  world. 
The  existence  of  these  manuscripts  and  versions  proves  that  the 

1  On  this  subject  the  reader  is  referred  to  Mr.  Estcott's  valuable  Work  on  the 
Canon  of  Scripture,  containing  the  results  of  much  curious  research. — Ed. 

2  The  Alexandrian  manuscript,  now  in  the  British  Museum,  was  written  pro- 
bably in  the  fourth  or  fifth  century. 


116  Evidences  of Christian  it y \  [Parti. 

scriptures  were  not  the  production  of  any  modern  contrivance. 
It  does  away  also  the  uncertainty  which  hangs  over  such  pub- 
lications as  the  works,  real  or  pretended,  of  Ossian  and 
Rowley,  in  which  the  editors  are  challenged  to  produce  their 
manuscripts,  and  to  show  where  they  obtained  their  copies. 
The  number  of  manuscripts,  far  exceeding  those  of  any  other 
book,  and  their  wide  dispersion,  afford  an  argument,  in  some 
measure,  to  the  senses,  that  the  scriptures  anciently,  in  like 
manner  as  at  this  day,  were  more  read  and  sought  after  than 
any  other  books,  and  that  also  in  many  different  countries. 
The  greatest  part  of  spurious  christian  writings  are  utterly  lost, 
the  rest  preserved  by  some  single  manuscript.  There  is  weight 
also  in  Dr.  Bentlev's  observation,  that  the  New  Testament  has 
suffered  less  injury  by  the  errors  of  transcribers  than  the  works 
of  any  profane  author  of  the  same  size  and  antiquity  ;  tha|  is, 
there  never  was  any  writing  in  the  preservation  and  purity  of 
which  the  world  was  so  interested  or  so  careful. 

II.  An  argument  of  great  weight  with  those  who  are  judges  of 
the  proofs  upon  which  it  is  founded,  and  capable,  through  their 
testimony,  of  being  addressed  to  every  understanding,  is  that 
]  which  arises  from  the  style  and  language  of  the  New  Testament. 
It  is  just  such  a  language  as  might  be  expected  from  the  apostles, 
from  persons  of  their  age  and  in  their  situation,  and  from  no 
other  persons.     It  is  the  style  neither  of  classic  authors  nor  of  the 

ancient  christian  Fathers,  but  Greek  coming  from  men  of  Hebrew 
v  .  .         .  .  . 

origin  ;  abounding,  that  is,  with  Hebraic  and  Syriac  idioms, 

such  as  would  naturally  be  found  in  the  writings  of  men  who 

used  a  language  spoken  indeed  where  they  lived,  but  not  the 

common  dialect  of  the  country.     This  happy  peculiarity  is  a 

strong  proof  of  the  genuineness  of  these   writings;  for   who 

should  forge  them?     The  christian  Fathers  were  for  the  most 

part  totally  ignorant  of  Hebrew,  and  therefore  were  not  likely 

to  insert  Hebraisms  and  Syriasms   into  their  writings.     The 

few  who  had  a  knowledge  of  the  Hebrew,  as  Justin  Martyr, 

Origen,  and  Epiphanius,  wrote  in  a  language  which  bears  no 

resemblance  to  that  of  the  New  Testament.     The  Nazarenes, 

who  understood  Hebrew,  used  chiefly,  perhaps  almost  entirely, 

the  gospel  of  St.  Matthew,  and  therefore  cannot  be  suspected 

of  forging  the  rest  of  the  sacred  writings.     The  argument,  at 

any  rate,  proves  the  antiquity  of  these  books ;  that  they  be- 


Chap,  ix.]  Authenticity  of  the  Historical  Scriptures.  117 

longed  to  the  age  of  the  apostles  ;  that  they  could  be  composed 
indeed  in  no  other.1 

III.  Why  should  we  question  the  genuineness  of  these 
books  ?  Is  it  for  that  they  contain  accounts  of  supernatural 
events  ?  I  apprehend  that  this,  at  the  bottom,  is  the  real, 
though  secret,  cause  of  our  hesitation  about  them ;  for,  had  the 
writings  inscribed  with  the  names  of  Matthew  and  John  related 
nothing  but  ordinary  history,  there  would  have  been  no  more 
doubt  whether  these  writings  were  theirs,  than  there  is  concern- 
ing the  acknowledged  works  of  Josephus  or  Philo ;  that  is, 
there  would  have  been  do  doubt  at  all.  Now  it  ought  to  be 
considered  that  this  reason,  however  it  may  apply  to  the  credit 
which  is  given  to  a  writer's  judgment  or  veracity,  affects  the 
question  of  genuineness  very  indirectly.  The  works  of, 
Bede  exhibit  many  wonderful  relations ;  but  who  for  that 
reason  doubts  that  they  were  written  by  Bede?  The  same  of-  / 
a  multitude  of  other  authors.  To  which  may  be  added,  that 
we  ask  no  more  for  our  books  than  what  we  allow  to  other 
books  in  some  sort  similar  to  ours.  We  do  not  deny  the 
genuineness  of  the  Koran.  We  admit  that  the  history  of 
Apollonius  Tyanseus,  purporting  to  be  written  by  Philostratus, 
was  really  written  by  Philostratus. 

IY.  If  it  had  been  an  easy  thing  in  the  early  times  of  the 
institution  to  have  forged  christian  writings,  and  to  have  ob- 
tained currency  and  reception  to  the  forgeries,  we  should  have 
had  many  appearing  in  the  name  of  Christ  himself.  No 
writings  would  have  been  received  with  so  much  avidity  an( 
respect  as  these ;  consequently  none  afforded  so  great  tempta- 
tion to  forgery.  Yet  have  we  heard  but  of  one  attempt  of  this 
sort  deserving  of  the  smallest  notice,  that  in  a  piece  of  a  very 
few  lines,  and  so  far  from  succeeding,  I  mean,  from  obtaining 
acceptance  and  reputation,  or  an  acceptance  and  reputation  in 
any  wise  similar  to  that  which  can  be  proved  to  have  attended 
the  books  of  the  New  Testament,  that  it  is  not  so  much  as  men- 
tioned by  any  writer  of  the  three  first  centuries.  The  learned 
reader  need  not  be  informed  that  I  mean  the  epistle  of  Christ 
to  Abgarus,  King  of  Edessa,  found  at  present  in  the  work  of 


1  See  this  argument  stated  more  at  large  in  Michaelis's  Introduction  (Marsh's 
translation),  vol.  i.  c.  2,  sect.  10,  from  which  these  observations  are  taken. 


118  Evidences  of  Christianity.  [Parti. 

Eusebius,1  as  a  piece  acknowledged  by  him,  though  not  without 
considerable  doubt  whether  the  whole  passage  be  not  an  inter- 
polation, as  it  is  most  certain,  that  after  the  publication  of 
Eusebius's  work  this  epistle  was  universally  rejected.2 

V.  If  the  ascription  of  the  gospels  to  their  respective 
authors  had  been  arbitrary  or  conjectural,  they  would  have 
been  ascribed  to  more  eminent  men.  This  observation  holds 
concerning  the  three  first  gospels,  the  reputed  authors  of  which 
were  enabled,  by  their  situation,  to  obtain  true  intelligence,  and 
were  likely  to  deliver  an  honest  account  of  what  they  knew, 
but  were  persons  not  distinguished  in  the  history  by  extraor- 
dinary marks  of  notice  or  commendation.  Of  the  apostles,  I 
hardly  know  any  one  of  whom  less  is  said  than  of  Matthew ; 
or  of  whom  the  little  that  is  said,  is  less  calculated  to  magnify 
his  character.  Of  Mark  nothing  is  said  in  the  Gospels ;  ajad 
what  is  said  of  any  person  of  that  name  in  the  Acts,  and  in 
the  Epistles,  in  no  part  bestows  praise  or  eminence  upon  him. 
The  name  of  Luke  is  mentioned  only  in  St.  Paul's  Epistles,3  and 
that  very  transiently.  The  judgment,  therefore,  which  assigned 
these  writings  to  these  authors  proceeded,  it  may  be  presumed, 
upon  proper  knowledge  and  evidence,  and  not  upon  a  voluntary 
choice  of  names. 

VI.  Christian  writers  and  christian  churches  appear  to  have 
soon  arrived  at  a  very  general  agreement  upon  the  subject,  and 
that  without  the  interposition  of  any  public  authority.  When 
the  diversity  of  opinion,  which  prevailed,  and  prevails  among 
Christians  in  other  points,  is  considered,  their  concurrence  in 
tin'  canon  of  Scripture  is  remarkable,  and  of  great  weight,  espe- 
cially as  it  seems  to  have  been  the  result  of  private  and  free 
Inquiry.  We  have  no  knowledge  of  any  interference  of  autho- 
rity in  the  question  before  the  council  of  Laodicea  in  the  year 
363.     Probably  the  decree  of  this  council  rather  declared  than 

-1  Hht.Eccl.  1.  i.e.  15. 
'Augustin,  a.d.  395,  (De  Comens.  Evang.  c.  34,)  had  heard  that  the  Pagans 
pretended  to  be  possessed  of  an  epistle  from  Christ  to  Peter  and  Paul  ;  but  he  had 
never  seen  it,  and  appears  to  doubt  of  the  existence  of  any  such  piece,  either 
genuine  or  spurious.  No  other  ancient  writer  mentions  it.  He  also,  and  he  alone, 
notices,  and  that  in  order  to  condemn  it.  an  epistle  ascribed  to  Christ  by  the  Mani- 
chees.  a.i>.  270,  and  ashort  hymn  attributed  to  him  by  the  Priscillianists,  a  n.  378, 
(cont.  Faust,  Wan.  lib,  xxviii.  c.  4).  The  lateness  of  the  writer  who  notices  these 
things,  the  manner  in  which  he  notices  them,  and,  above  all,  the  silence  of  every 
preceding  writer,  render  them  unworthy  of  consideration. 

5  Col.  iv.  14.     2  Tim.  iv.  11.     Philem.  24. 


Chap,  ix.]  Authenticity  of  the  Historical  Scriptures.  119 

regulated  the  public  judgment,  or,  more  properly  speaking,  the 
judgment  of  some  neighboring  churches  ;  the  council  itself 
consisting  of  no  more  than  thirty  or  forty  bishops  of  Lydia  and 
the  adjoining  countries.1  Nor  does  its  authority  seem  to  have 
extended  farther ;  for  we  find  numerous  christian  writers,  after 
this  time,  discussing  the  question, '  what  books  were  entitled  to 
be  received  as  scripture,'  with  great  freedom,upon  proper  grounds 
of  evidence,  and  without  any  reference  to  the  decision  at  Laodicea. 


These  considerations  are  not  to  be  neglected ;  but  of  an 
argument  concerning  the  genuineness  of  ancient  writings,  the 
substance  undoubtedly  and  strength  is  ancjentJ^siimeejT^ 

This  testimony  it  is  necessary  to  exhibit  somewhat  in  detail ; 
for  when  christian  advocates  merely  tell  us,  that  we  have  the 
same  reason  for  believing  the  Gospels  to  be  written  by  the 
evangelists  whose  name  they  bear,  as  we  have  for  believing  the 
Commentaries  to  be  Caesar's,  the  jEneid  Virgil's,  or  the 
Orations  Cicero's,  they  content  themselves  with  an  imperfect 
representation.  They  state  nothing  more  than  what  is  true, 
but  they  do  not  state  the  truth  correctly.  In  the  number, 
variety,  and  early  date  of  our  testimonies,  we  far  exceed  all 
other  ancient  books.  For  one,  which  the  most  celebrated 
work  of  the  most  celebrated  Greek  or  Roman  writer  can  allege, 
we  produce  many.  But  then  it  is  more  requisite  in  our 
books  than  in  theirs,  to  separate  and  distinguish  them  from 
spurious  competitors.  The  result,  I  am  convinced,  will  be 
satisfactory  to  every  fair  inquirer ;  but  this  circumstance  renders 
an  inquiry  necessary. 

In  a  work,  however,  like  the  present,  there  is  a  difficulty  in 
finding  a  place  for  evidence  of  this  kind.  To  pursue  the  detail 
of  proofs  throughout,  would  be  to  transcribe  a  great  part  of 
Dr.  Lardner's  eleven  octavo  volumes :  to  leave  the  argument 
without  proofs,  is  to  leave  it  without  effect ;  for  the  persuasion 
produced  by  this  species  of  evidence  depends  upon  a  view  and 
induction  of  the  particulars  which  compose  it. 

The  method  which  I  propose  to  myself  is,  first  to  place 
before  the  reader,  in  one  view,  the  propositions  which  comprise 
the  several  heads  of  our  testimony,  and  afterwards,  to  repeat 


1  Lardner's  Cred.  vol.  viii.  p.  291  et  seq. 


120  Evidences  of  Christianity.  [Part  I. 

the  same  propositions  in  so  many  distinct  sections,  with  the 
necessary  authorities  subjoined  to  each.1 

The  following,  then,  are  the  allegations  upon  the  subject, 
which  are  capable  of  being  established  by  proof: 

I.  That  the  historical  books  of  the  New  Testament,  meaning 
thereby  the  four  Gospels  and  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles,  are 
quoted  or  alluded  to  by  a  series  of  christian  writers,  beginning 
with  those  who  were  contemporary  with  the  Apostles,  or  who 
immediately  followed  them,  and  proceeding  in  close  and  regular 
succession  from  their  time  to  the  present. 

II.  That  when  they  are  quoted,  or  alluded  to,  they  are 
quoted  or  alluded  to  with  peculiar  respect,  as  books  mi  generis  y  as 
possessing  an  authority  which  belonged  to  no  other  books,  and  as 
conclusive  in  all  questions  and  controversies  amongst  Christians. 

III.  That  they  were,  in  very  early  times,  collected  into^a 
distinct  volume. 

IV.  That  they  were  distinguished  by  appropriate  names  and 
titles  of  respect. 

V.  That  they  were  publicly  read  and  expounded  in  the 
religious  assemblies  of  the  early  Christians. 

YI.  That  commentaries  were  written  upon  them,  harmonies 
formed  out  of  them,  different  copies  carefully  collated,  and 
versions  of  them  made  into  different  languages. 

VII.  That  they  were  received  by  Christians  of  different  sects, 
by  many  heretics  as  well  as  catholics,  and  usually  appealed  to 
by  both  sides  in  the  controversies  which  arose  in  those  days. 

VIII.  That  the  four  Gospels,  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles,  thir- 
teen Epistles  of  St.  Paul,  the  First  Epistle  of  John. and  the  first  of 
Peter,  were  received  without  doubt, by  those  who  doubted  con- 
cerning t  he  other  books  which  are  included  in  our  present  canon. 

IX.  That  the  Gospels  were  attacked  by  the  early  adver- 
saries of  Christianity,  as  books  containing  the  accounts  upon 
which  the  religion  was  founded. 

X.  That  formal  catalogues  of  authentic  scriptures  were  pub- 
lished; in  all  which  our  present  sacred  histories  were  included. 

XI.  That  these  propositions  cannot  be  affirmed  of  any  other 
books  claiming  to  be  hooks  of  scripture;  by  which  are  meant 

those  1 ks  which  are  commonly  called  apocryphal  books  of 

the  New  Testament. 

1  The  reader,  when  he  lias  the  propositions  before  him,  will  observe  that  the 
in  nt.  if  he  should  omit  the  sections,  proceeds  connectedly  from  tliis  point. 


Ch.  ix.  §  i.]   Authenticity  of  the  Historical  Scriptures.  121 


Section  I. 

The  historical  boohs  of  the  New  Testament,  meaning  thereby 
the  four  Gospels  and  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles,  are  quoted, 
or  alluded  to,  by  a  series  of  christian  writers,  beginning  with 
those  who  were  contemporary  with  the  apostles,  or  who  imme- 
diately followed  them,  and  proceeding  in  close  and  regular 
succession  from  their  time  to  the  pre  sent. 

The  medium  of  proof  stated  in  this  proposition  is,  of  all 
others,  the  most  unquestionable,  the  least  liable  to  any 
practices  of  fraud,  and  is  not  diminished  by  the  lapse  of  ages. 
Bishop  Burnet,  in  the  History  of  his  own  Times,  inserts  various 
extracts  from  Lord  Clarendon's  History.  One  such  insertion 
is  a  proof  that  Lord  Clarendon's  History  was  extant  at  the 
time  when  Bishop  Burnet  wrote,  that  it  had  been  read  by 
Bishop  Burnet,  that  it  was  received  by  Bishop  Burnet  as  a 
work  of  Lord  Clarendon's,  and  also  regarded  by  him  as  an 
authentic  account  of  the  transactions  which  it  relates ;  and  it 
will  be  a  proof  of  these  points  a  thousand  years  hence,  or  as 
long  as  the  books  exist.  Quintilian  having  quoted  as  Cicero's,1 
that  well-known  trait  of  dissembled  vanity, 

'  Si  quid  est  in  me  ingenii,  Judices,  quod  sentio  quain  sit  exiguum'  — 

the  quotation  would  be  strong  evidence,  were  there  any  doubt, 
that  the  oration,  which  opens  with  this  address,  actually  came 
from  Cicero's  pen.  These  instances,  however  simple,  may 
serve  to  point  out  to  a  reader,  who  is  little  accustomed  to  such 
researches,  the  nature  and  value  of  the  argument. 

The  testimonies  which  we  have  to  bring  forward  under  this 
proposition  are  the  following : 

I.  There  is  extant  an  epistle  ascribed  to  Barnabas,2  the 
companion  of  Paul.  It  is  quoted  as  the  epistle  of  Barnabas  by 
Clement  of  Alexandria,  a.d.  191  ;  by  Origin,  a.d.  230.  It  is 
mentioned  by  Eusebius,  a.d.  315 ;  and  by  Jerome,  a.d.  392,  as 


1    Quint,  lib.  xi.  c.  i. 
*  Lardnev's  Cred.  ed.  1755,  vol.  i.  p.  23  et  seq.     The  reader  will  observe  from 
the  references,  that  the  materials  of  these  sections  are  almost  entirely  extracted 
from  Dr.  Lardner's  work — mv  office  consisted  in  arrangement  and  selection. 


122  Evidences  of  Christianity.  [Part  I. 

an  ancient  work  in  their  time,  bearing  the  name  of  Barnabas, 
and  as  well  known  and  read  amongst  Christians,  though  not 
accounted  a  part  of  Scripture.  It  purports  to  have  been 
written  soon  after  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem,  during  the 
calamities  which  followed  that  disaster ;  and  it  bears  the 
character  of  the  age  to  which  it  professes  to  belong. 

In  this  epistle  appears  the  following  remarkable  passage  : — 
'  Let  us,  therefore,  beware  lest  it  come  upon  us,  as  it  is  written, 
There  are  many  called,  few  chosen.'  From  the  expression, 
'  as  it  is  written,'  we  infer,  with  certainty,  that,  at  the  time 
when  the  author  of  this  epistle  lived,  there  was  a  book  extant, 
well  known  to  Christians,  and  of  authority  amongst  them,  con- 
taining these  words — '  Many  are  called,  few  chosen.'  Such  a 
book  is  our  present  Gospel  of  St.  Matthew,  in  which  this  text 
is  twice  found,1  and  is  found  in  no  other  book  now  known. 
There  is  a  further  observation  to  be  made  upon  the  terms  of 
the  quotation.  The  writer  of  the  epistle  was  a  Jew.  The 
phrase  '  it  is  written'  was  the  very  form  in  which  the  Jews  quoted 
their  Scriptures.  It  is  not  probable,  therefore,  that  he  would 
have  used  this  phrase,  and  without  qualification,  of  any  books 
but  what  had  acquired  a  kind  of  scriptural  authority.  If  the 
passage  remarked  in  this  ancient  writing  had  been  found  in  one 
of  St.  Paul's  epistles,  it  wrould  have  been  esteemed  by  every 
one  a  high  testimony  to  St.  Matthew's  gospel.  It  ought, 
therefore,  to  be  remembered,  that  the  writing  in  which  it  i*  found 
was  probably  by  very  few  years  posterior  to  those  of  St.  Paul. 

Besides  this  passage,  there  are  also  in  the  epistle  before  us 
several  others,  in  which  the  sentiment  is  the  same  with  what 
we  meet  with  in  St.  Matthew's  gospel,  and  two  or  three  in 
which  we  recognize  the  same  words.  In  particular,  the  author 
of  the  epistle  repeats  the  precept,  '  Give  to  every  one  that 
asketh  thee;'2  and  saith  that  Christ  chose  as  his  apostles,  who 
were  to  preach  the  gospel,  men  who  were  great  sinners,  that  he 
might  show  that  he  came  '  not  to  call  the  righteous,  but  sinners, 
to  repentance.'3 

II.  We  are  in  possession  of  an  epistle  written  by  Clement, 
Bishop  of  Rome,*  whom  ancient  writers,  without  any  doubt  or 


1   Matt,  xx.  10,  xxii.  14.  2  Ibid.  v.  42.  3  Ibid.  ix.  13. 

■   1-anlncr's  ('ml.  vol.  i.  p.  ti'2  et  seq. 


Cli.  ix.  §i.]    Authenticity  of  the  Historical  Scriptures.  123 

scruple,  assert  to  have  been  the  Clement  whom  St.  Paul 
mentions,  Phil.  iv.  3,  '  with  Clement  also,  and  other  my  fellow 
laborers,  whose  names  are  in  the  book  of  life.'  This  epistle  is 
spoken  of  by  the  ancients  as  an  epistle  acknowledged  by  all ; 
and,  as  Irenserus  well  represents  its  value,  '  written  by  Clement, 
who  had  seen  the  blessed  apostles  and  conversed  with  them,  who 
had  the  preaching  of  the  apostles  still  sounding  in  his  ears,  and 
their  traditions  before  his  eyes.'  It  is  addressed  to  the  church 
of  Corinth ;  and  what  alone  may  seem  almost  decisive  of  its 
authenticity,  Dionysius,  Bishop  of  Corinth,  about  the  year  170, 
[i.  e.  about  eighty  or  ninety  years  after  the  epistle  was  written,] 
bears  witness,  '  that  it  had  been  wont  to  be  read  in  that  church 
from  ancient  times.' 

This  epistle  affords,  amongst  others,  the  following  valuable 
passages :  '  Especially  remembering  the  words  of  the  Lord 
Jesus  which  he  spake,  teaching  gentleness  and  long-suffering; 
for  thus  he  said  i1  Be  ye  merciful,  that  ye  may  obtain  mercy ; 
forgive,  that  it  may  be  forgiven  unto  you ;  as  you  do,  so  shall 
it  be  done  unto  you ;  as  you  give,  so  shall  it  be  given  unto  you ; 
as  ye  judge,  so  shall  ye  be  judged;  as  ye  show  kindness,  so 
shall  kindness  be  shown  unto  you  ;  with  what  measure  ye  mete, 
with  the  same  it  shall  be  measured  to  you.  By  this  command, 
and  by  these  rules,  let  us  establish  ourselves,  that  we  may 
always  walk  obediently  to  his  holy  words.' 

Again :  Remember  the  words  of  the  Lord  Jesus,  for  he 
said,  '  AVoe  to  that  man  by  whom  offences  come  ;  it  were  better 
for  him  that  he  had  not  been  born,  than  that  he  should  offend 
one  of  my  elect ;  it  were  better  for  him  that  a  millstone  should 
be  tied  about  his  neck,  and  that  he  should  be  drowned  in  the 
sea,  than  that  he  should  offend  one  of  my  little  ones.'2 

In  both  these  passages  we  perceive  the  high  respect  paid  to 

1  'Blessed  are  the  merciful,  for  they  shall  obtain  mercy.' — Matt.  v.  7.     'For 
give,  and  ye  shall  be  forgiven  ;  give,  and  it  shall  be  given  unto  you.' — Luke  vi. 
37,  38.     '  Judge  not,  that  ye  be  not  judged  ;  for  with  what  judgment  ye  judge,  ye 
shall  be  judged,  and  with  what  measure  ye  mete,  it  shall  be  measured  to  you 
again.' — Matt.  vii.  2. 

2  Matt,  xviii.  6  :  '  But  whoso  shall  offend  one  of  these  little  ones  which  believe 
in  me,  it  were  better  for  him  that  a  millstone  were  hanged  about  his  neck,  and 
that  he  were  cast  into  the  sea.'  The  latter  part  of  the  passage  in  Clement  agrees 
more  exactly  with  Luke  xvii.  2.  '  It  were  better  for  him  that  a  millstone  were 
handed  about  his  neck,  and  he  cast  into  the  sea,  than  that  he  should  offend  one 
of  these  little  ones.' 


124  Er'nh  no*  of  Christianity.  [Part  1. 

the  words  of  Christ  as  recorded  by  the  evangelists:  ' Remember 
the  words  of  the  Lord  Jesus — by  this  command  and  by  these 
rules  let  ns  establish  ourselves,  that  we  may  always  walk  obe- 
diently to  his  holy  words.'  We  perceive  also  in  Clement  a 
total  unconsciousness  of  doubt,  whether  these  were  the  real 
words  of  Christ,  which  are  read  as  such  in  the  gospels.  This 
observation  indeed  belongs  to  the  whole  series  of  testimony,  and 
especially  to  the  most  ancient  part  of  it.  Whenever  any  thing 
now  read  in  the  gospels,  is  met  with  in  an  early  Christian 
writing,  it  is  always  observed  to  stand  there  as  acknowledged 
truth,  i.  e.  to  be  introduced  without  hesitation,  doubt,  or  apology. 
It  is  to  be  observed  also,  that  as  this  epistle  was  written  in  the 
name  of  the  church  of  Rome,  and  addressed  to  the  church  of 
Corinth,  it  ought  to  be  taken  as  exhibiting  the  judgment  not 
only  of  Clement,  who  drew  up  the  letter,  but  of  these  churches 
themselves,  at  least  as  to  the  authority  of  the  books  referred  t5. 
It  may  be  said,  that,  as  Clement  hath  not  used  words  of 
quotation,  it  is  not  certain  that  he  refers  to  any  book  whatever. 
The  words  of  Christ,  which  he  has  put  down,  he  might  himself 
have  heard  from  the  apostles,  or  might  have  received  through 
the  ordinary  medium  of  oral  tradition.  This  hath  been  said ; 
but  that  no  such  inference  can  be  drawn  from  the  absence 
of  words  of  quotation  is  proved  by  the  three  following  con- 
3i derations  :  First,  that  Clement,  in  the  very  same  manner, 
namely,  without  any  mark  of  references,  uses  a  passage  now 
found  in  the  epistle  to  the  Romans;1  which  passage,  from  the 
peculiarity  of  the  words  which  compose  it,  and  from  their 
order,  it  is  manifest  that  lie  must  have  taken  from  the  book. 
The  same  remark  may  be  repeated  of  some  very  singular  senti- 
ments in  the  epistle  to  the  Hebrews.  Secondly,  that  there  are 
many  sentences  of  St.  Paul's  first  epistle  to  the  Corinthians 
standing  in  Clement's  epistle  without  any  sign  of  quotation, 
which  yet  certainly  are  quotations;  because  it  appears  that 
('lenient  had  St.  Paul's  epistle  before  him,  inasmuch  as  in  one 
place  he  mentions  it  in  terms  too  express  to  leave  us  in  any 
doubt — 'Take  into  your  hands  the  epistle  of  the  blessed 
apostle  Paul.'  Thirdly,  that  this  method  of  adopting  words 
of  Scripture,   without   reference   or  acknowledgment,  was,  as 


1  Rom.  i.  '29. 


Ch.  ix.  §  i.]  Authenticity  of  the  Historical  Scriptures.  125 

will  appear  in  the  sequel,  a  method  in  general  use  amongst 
the  most  ancient  Christian  writers.  These  analogies  not  only 
repel  the  objection,  but  cast  the  presumption  on  the  other  side; 
and  afford  a  considerable  degree  of  positive  proof,  that  the 
words  in  question  have  been  borrowed  from  the  places  of  Scrip- 
ture in  which  we  now  find  them. 

But  take  it  if  you  will  the  other  way,  that  Clement  had 
heard  these  words  from  the  apostles  or  first  teachers  of  Chris- 
tianity; with  respect  to  the  precise  point  of  our  argument,  viz. 
that  the  scriptures  contain  what  the  apostles  taught,  this  sup- 
position may  serve  almost  as  well. 

III.  Near  the  conclusion  of  the  epistle  to  the  Romans,  St. 
Paul,  amongst  others,  sends  the  following  salutation:  'Salute 
Asyncritus,  Phlegon,  Hennas,  Patrobus,  Hermes,  and  the 
brethren  which  are  with  them.' 

Of  Hennas,  who  appears  in  this  catalogue  of  Roman  Chris- 
tians as  contemporary  with  St.  Paul,  a  book  bearing  the  name, 
and  it  is  most  probable  rightly,  is  still  remaining.  It  is  called 
the  Shepherd  or  Pastor  of  Hennas. 1  Its  antiquity  is  incon- 
testable, from  the  quotations  of  it  in  Irenseus,  a.d.  178,  Clement 
of  Alexandria,  a.d.  194,  Tertullian,  a.d.  200,  Origen,  a.d.  230. 
The  notes  of  time  extant  in  the  epistle  itself  agree  with  its 
title,  and  with  the  testimonies  concerning  it,  for  it  purports  to 
have  been  written  during  the  lifetime  of  Clement. 

In  this  piece  are  tacit  allusions  to  St.  Matthew's,  St.  Luke's, 
and  St.  John's  gospels ;  that  is  to  say,  there  are  applications 
of  thoughts  and  expressions  found  in  these  gospels,  without 
citing  the  place  or  writer  from  which  they  were  taken.  In 
this  form  appear  in  Hernias  the  confessing  and  denying  of 
Christ;2  the  parable  of  the  seed  sown;3  the  comparison  of 
Christ's  disciples  to  little  children  ;  the  saying,  '  he  that 
putteth  away  his  wife  and  marrieth  another  committeth  adul- 
tery;'4 the  singular  expression,  'having  received  all  power 
from  his  father,'  in  probable  allusion  to  Matt,  xxviii.  18,  and 
Christ  being  the  '  gate,'  or  only  way  of  coming  '  to  God,'  in 
plain  allusion  to  John  xiv.  6 — x.  7,  9.  There  is  also  a  pro- 
bable allusion  to  Acts  v.  32. 


1  Lardner's  Ored.  vol.  i.  p.  111. 
a  Matt.  x.  32,  33  ;  or  Luke  xii.  8,  9.  3  Matt.  xiii.  3 ;  or  Luke  viii.  5. 

*  Luke  xvi.  18. 


126  Evidences  of  Christianity.  [Parti. 

Tliis  piece  is  the  representation  of  a  vision,  and  has  by  many 
been  accounted  a  weak  and  fanciful  performance.  I  therefore 
observe,  that  the  character  of  the  writing  has  little  to  do 
with  the  purpose  for  which  we  adduce  it.  It  is  the  age  in 
which  it  was  composed  that  gives  the  value  to  its  testimony. 

IY.  Ignatius,  as  it  is  testified  by  ancient  christian  writers, 
became  Bishop  of  Antioch  about  thirty-seven  years  after 
Christ's  ascension ;  and  therefore  from  his  time,  and  place, 
and  station,  it  is  probable  that  he  had  known  and  conversed 
with  many  of  the  apostles.  Epistles  of  Ignatius  are  referred 
to  by  Polycarp,  his  contemporary.  Passages  found  in  the 
epistles  now  extant  under  his  name  are  quoted  by  Irenseus, 
a.d.  178,  by  Origen,  a.d.  230  ;  and  the  occasion  of  writing  the 
epistles  is  given  at  large  by  Eusebius  and  Jerome.  What  are 
called  the  smaller  epistles  of  Ignatius  are  generally  deemed, to 
be  those  which  were  read  by  Irenaeus,  Origen,  and  Eusebius.1 

In  these  epistles  are  various  undoubted  allusions  to  the 
gospels  of  St.  Matthew  and  St.  John  ;  yet  so  far  of  the  same 
form  with  those  in  the  preceding  articles,  that,  like  them,  they 
are  not  accompanied  with  marks  of  quotation. 

Of  these  allusions  the  following  are  clear  specimens : 

'  Christ  was  baptized  of  John,  that  all  righteous- 
ness might  be  fulfilled  by  him.'' 

'-Be  ye  wise  as  serpents  in  all  things,  and  harm.- 
less  as  a  dove? 

'  Yet  the  spirit  is  not  deceived,  being  from  God; 

for  it  knows  ivhence  it  comes  and  whither  it  goes? 

'lie    (Christ)    is   the   door   of  the   Father,  by 

which  enter  in  Abraham,  and  Isaac,  and  Jacob, 

and  the  Apostles,  and  the  Church.' 

As  to  the  manner  of  quotation  this  is  observable  : — Ignatius, 

in  one  place,  speaks  of  St.  Paul  in  terms  of  high  respect,  and 

quotes  his  epistle  to  the  Ephesians  by  name;  yet  in  several 


MatO 


John. 


1  Lardner's  Cred.  vol.  i.  p.  147. 

9  Ch.  iiL  15.  'For  thus  it  becomes  us  to  fulfil  all  righteousness.'  xi.  16.  'Be 
ye  therefore  wise  as  Berpents,  and  harmless  as  doves.' 

3  Ch.  iii.  8.  'The  wind  bloweth  where  it  listeth,  and  thou  hearest  the  sound 
thereof,  but  canst  not  tell  whence  it  cornel  h,  and  whither  it  goeth;  so  isevery  one  that 
is  born  of  the  spirit.'  x.  9.  'I  am  the  door;  by  me  if  any  man  enter  in,  he 
shall  1»"  saved.' 


Oh.  ix.  §  i.J  Authenticity  of  the  Historical  Scriptures.  127 

other  places  he  borrows  words  and  sentiments  from  the  same 
epistle  without  mentioning  it :  which  shows,  that  this  was  his 
general  manner  of  using  and  applying  writings  then  extant, 
and  then  of  high  authority. 

Y.  Polycarp1  had  been  taught  by  the  apostles ;  had  conversed 
with  many  who  had  seen  Christ ;  was  also  by  the  apostles 
appointed  Bishop  of  Smyrna.  This  testimony  concerning 
Polycarp  is  given  by  Irenseus,  who  in  his  youth  had  seen  him. 
'I  can  tell  the  place,' saitli  Irenseus, 'in  which  the  blessed 
Polycarp  sat  and  taught,  and  his  going  out  and  coming  in,  and 
the  manner  of  his  life,  and  the  form  of  his  person,  and  the  dis- 
courses he  made  to  the  people,  and  how  he  related  his  conver- 
sation with  John  and  others  who  had  seen  the  Lord,  and  how 
he  related  their  sayings,  and  what  he  had  heard  concerning  the 
Lord,  both  concerning  his  miracles  and  his  doctrine,  as  he  had 
received  them  from  the  eye-witnesses  of  the  word  of  life :  all 
which  Polycarp  related  agreeable  to  the  scriptures.' 

Of  Polycarp,  whose  proximity  to  the  age  and  country  and 
persons  of  the  apostles  is  thus  attested,  we  have  one  undoubted 
epistle  remaining.  And  this,  though  a  short  letter,  contains 
nearly  forty  clear  allusions  to  books  of  the  New  Testament ; 
which  is  strong  evidence  of  the  respect  which  Christians  of  that 
age  bore  for  these  books. 

Amongst  these,  although  the  writings  of  St.  Paul  are  more 
frequently  used  by  Polycarp  than  other  parts  of  scripture,  there 
are  copious  allusions  to  the  gospel  of  St.  Matthew,  some  to 
passages  found  in  the  gospels  both  of  Matthew  and  Luke,  and 
some  which  more  nearly  resemble  the  words  in  Luke. 

I  select  the  following,  as  fixing  the  authority  of  the  Lord's 
prayer,  and  the  use  of  it  amongst  the  primitive  Christians.  'If 
therefore  we  pray  the  Lord  that  he  will  forgive  U8,  we  ought 
also  to  forgive.'' 

'  With  supplication,  beseeching  the  all-seeing  God  not  to  lead 
us  into  temptation? 

And  the  following,  for  the  sake  of  repeating  an  observation 
already  made,  that  words  of  our  Lord,  found  in  our  gospels, 
were  at  this  early  day  quoted  as  spoken  by  him  ;  and  not  only 
so,  but  quoted  with  so  little  question  or  consciousness  of  donbt, 


i  Laiiliiei's  Oral.  vol.  i.  p.  192. 


128  Evidences  of  Christianity.  [Part  I. 

about  their  being  really  bis  words,  as  not  even  to  mention, 
much  less  to  canvass,  the  authority  from  which  they  were 
taken. 

'  But  remembering  what  the  Lord  said,  teaching,  Judge  not, 
that  ye  be  not  judged  ;  forgive,  and  ye  shall  be  forgiven  ;  be  ye 
merciful,  that  ye  may  obtain  mercy ;  with  what  measure  ye 
mete,  it  shall  be  measured  to  you  again.'1 

Supposing  Polycarp  to  have  had  these  words  from  the  books 
in  which  we  now  find  them,  it  is  manifest  that  these  books  were 
considered  by  him,  and,  as  he  thought,  considered  by  his 
readers,  as  authentic  accounts  of  Christ's  discourses ;  and  that 
that  point  was  incontestable. 

The  following  is  a  decisive,  though  what  we  call  a  tacit, 
reference  to  St.  Peter's  speech  in  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles  :- — 
'  whom  God  hath  raised,  having  loosed  the  pain^  of  death.'2 ' 

YI.  Papias,3  a  hearer  of  John,  and  companion  of  Polycarp, 
as  Irenseus  attests,  and  of  that  age  as  all  agree,  in  a  passage 
quoted  by  Eusebius,  from  a  work  now  lost,  expressly  ascribes 
the  respective  gospels  to  Matthew  and  Mark  ;  and  in  a  manner 
which  proves,  that  these  gospels  must  have  publicly  borne  the 
names  of  these  authors  at  that  time,  and  probably  long  before : 
for  Papias  does  not  say,  that  one  gospel  was  written  by  Mat- 
thew, and  another  by  Mark ;  but,  assuming  this  as  perfectly 
well  known,  he  tells  us  from  what  materials  Mark  collected  his 
account,  viz.,  from  Peter's  preaching,  ?,nd  in  what  language 
Matthew  wrote,  viz.,  in  Hebrew.  Whether  Papias  was  well 
informed  in  this  statement  or  not ;  to  the  point  fur  which  I 
produce  this  testimony,  namely,  that  these  books  bore  these 
names  at  this  time,  his  authority  is  complete. 

The  writers  hitherto  alleged,  had  all  lived  and  conversed 
with  some  of  the  apostles.  The  works  <>f  theirs  which  remain 
:ni'  in  general  very  short  pieces,  yet  rendered  extremely  valuable 
by  their  antiquity;  and  none,  short  as  they  are,  but  what 
contain  some  important  testimony  to  our  historical  scriptures.4 


1  Mutt.  vii.  1,2;  v.  7.    Luke  vi.  37,  38.  «  Acts  ii.  24. 

3  Lindner's  Cred.  vol.  i.  p.  2:39. 
•  That  the  quotations  are  more  thinly  strown  in  these,  than  in  the  writings  of 
the  nrxt  and  of  succeeding  ages,  is.  in  a  good  measure,  accounted  for  by  the  ob- 
servation, tbat  the  Scriptures  of  the  New  Testament  had  not  yet,  nor  by  their 
recency  hardly  could  have,  become  a  general  part  of  christian  education  ;  read,  as 


Chap.  ix.  §i.]  Authenticity  of  the  Historical  Scriptures.       129 

VII.  Not  long  after  these,  that  is,  not  much  more  than 
twenty  years  after  the  last,  follows  Justin  Martyr.1  His  re- 
maining works  are  much  larger  than  any  that  have  yet  been 
noticed.  Although  the  nature  of  his  two  principal  writings,  one 
of  which  was  addressed  to  heathens,  and  the  other  was  a  con- 
ference with  a  Jew,  did  not  lead  him  to  such  frequent  appeals 
to  christian  books,  as  would  have  appeared  in  a  discourse  in- 
tended for  christian  readers ;  we  nevertheless  reckon  up  in 
them  between  twenty  and  thirty  quotations  of  the  Gospels  and 
Acts  of  the  Apostles,  certain,  distinct,  and  copious  :  if  each 
verse  be  counted  separately,  a  much  greater  number  ;  if  each 
expression,  a  very  great  one.2 

We  meet  with  quotations  of  three  of  the  gospels  within 
the  compass  of  half  a  page :  '  And  in  other  words  he  says, 
Depart  from  me  into  outer  darkness,  which  the  Father  hath 
prepared  for  Satan  and  his  angels,'  (which  is  from  Mat- 
thew xxv.  41).  '  And  again  he  said  in  other  words,  I  give 
unto  you  power  to  tread  upon  serpents  and  scorpions,  and 
venomous  beasts,  and  upon  all  the  power  of  the  enemy.'  (This 
from  Luke  x.  19.)  '  And  before  he  was  crucified,  he  said, 
The  son  of  man  must  suffer  many  things,  and  be  rejected  of 
the  Scribes  and  Pharisees,  and  be  crucified,  and  rise  again  the 
third  day.'     (This  from  Mark  viii.  31.) 

In  another  place  Justin  quotes  a  passage  in  the  history  of 
Christ's  birth,  as  delivered  by  Matthew  and  John,  and  fortifies 
his  quotation  by  this  remarkable  testimony:  'as  they  have 
taught,  who  have  writ  the  history  of  all  things  concerning  our 
Saviour  Jesus  Christ ;  and  we  believe  them.' 

Quotations  also  are  found  from  the  Gospel  of  St.  John. 

What,  moreover,  seems  extremely  material  to  be  observed, 
is,  that  in  all  Justin's  works,  from  which  might  be  extracted 

the  Old  Testament  was,  by  Jews  and  Christians  from  their  childhood,  and  thereby 
intimately  mixing,  as  that  had  long  done,  with  all  their  religions  ideas, and  with 
their  language  upon  religions  subjects.  In  process  of  time,  and  as  soon  perhaps 
as  could  be  expected,  this  came  to  be  the  case.  And  then  we  perceive  the  effect, 
in  a  proportionably  greater  frequency,  as  well  as  copiousness  of  allusion.* 

1  Lardner's  Cred.  vol.  i.  p.  258. 

2  '  He  cites  our  present  canon,  and  particnlarly  our  four  Gospels  continually,  I 
dare  say,  above  two  hundred  times.' — Jones's  New  and  Full  Method,  App.  vol.  i. 
p.  589,  ed.  1726. 

e  Mich,  Intr.  c.  ii.  sect.  vi. 
9 


130  Evidences  of  Christianity.  [Part  1. 

almost  a  complete  life  of  Christ,  there  are  but  two  instances,  in 
which  he  refers  to  any  thing  as  said  or  done  bv  Christ,  which 
is  not  related  concerning  him  in  our  present  gospels :  which 
shows,  that  these  gospels,  and  these,  we  may  say,  alone,  were 
the  authorities  from  which  the  Christians  of  that  day  drew  the 
information  upon  which  they  depended.  One  of  these  in- 
stances is  of  a  saying  of  Christ  not  met  with  in  any  book  now 
extant.1  The  other,  of  a  circumstance  in  Christ's  baptism, 
namely,  a  fiery  or  luminous  appearance  upon  the  water,  which, 
according  to  Epiphanius,  is  noticed  in  the  Gospel  of  the  He- 
brews :  and  which  might  be  true ;  but  which,  whether  true  or 
false,  is  mentioned  by  Justin,  with  a  plain  mark  of  diminution, 
when  compared  with  what  he  quotes  as  resting  upon  scripture 
authority.  The  reader  will  advert  to  this  distinction;  'and 
then,  when  Jesns  came  to  the  river  Jordan,  where  Johmwas 
baptizing,  as  Jesus  descended  into  the  water,  a  fire  also  was 
kindled  in  Jordan  ;  and  when  he  came  up  out  of  the  water, 
the  apostles  of  this  oar  Christ  ha/ve  written  that  the  Holy  Ghost 
lighted  upon  him  as  a  dove.' 

All  the  references  in  Justin  are  made  without  mentioning 
the  author ;  which  proves  that  these  books  were  perfectly  no- 
torious, and  that  there  were  no  other  accounts  of  Christ  then 
extant,  or,  at  least,  no  others  so  received  and  credited  as  to 
make  it  necessary  to  distinguish  these  from  the  rest. 

But  although  Justin  mentions  not  the  authors'  names,  he 
calls  the  books,  Memoirs  composed  by  the  Apostles.  Memoirs 
composedly  the  Apostles  and  their  Companions  ;  which  descrip- 
tions, the  latter  especially,  exactly  suit  with  the  titles  which 
the  Gospels  and  Acts  of  the  Apostles  now  bear. 


1  'Wherefore  also  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  lias  said.  Tu  whatsoever  I  shall  find 
you.  in  the  same  I  will  also  judge  you.'  Possibly  Justin  designed  not  to  quote 
any  text,  hut  to  represent  the  sense  of  many  of  our  Lord's  sayings.  Fabricius  has 
observed,  that  this  Baying  lias  been  quoted  by  many  writers,  and  that  Justin  is  the 
only  one  who  ascribes  it  to  our  Lord,  and  that  perhaps  by  a  slip  of  his  memory. 

Words  resembling  these  are  read  repeatedly  in  Ezekiel,  '  I  will  judge  them  ac- 
cording  to  their  ways'  (vii.  '■">.  xxxiii.  20).  It  is  remarkable  that  Justin  had  but 
JU81  before  expressly  quoted  Ezekiel.  Mr.  Jones  upon  this  circumstance  founded 
a  conjecture,  that  Justin  wrote  only  'tin'  Lord  hath  said,'  intending  to  quote 
the  words  of  God,  or  rather  the  sense  of  those  words,  in  Ezekiel ;  and  that  some 
transcriber,  imagining  these  to  he  the  words  of  Christ,  inserted  in  his  copy  the 
addition  'Jesus  Christ.' — Vol.  i.  p.  539. 


Chap.  ix.  §i.]    Authenticity  of  the  Historical  Scriptures.       131 

VIII.  Hegesippus1  came  about  thirty  years  after  Justin. 
His  testimony  is  remarkable  only  for  this  particular ;  that  he 
relates  of  himself,  that,  travelling  from  Palestine  to  Rome,  he 
visited  upon  his  journey  many  bishops  ;  and  that,  '  in  every 
succession,  and  in  every  city,  the  same  doctrine  is  taught,  which 
the  Law,  and  the  Prophets,  and  the  Lord  teacheth.'  This  is  an 
important  attestation,  from  good  authority,  and  of  high 
antiquity.  It  is  generally  understood  that  by  the  word  '  Lord,' 
Hegesippus  intended  some  writing  or  writings,  containing  the 
teaching  of  Christ,  in  which  sense  alone  the  term  combines  with 
the  other  terms  '  Law  and  Prophets,'  which  denote  writings ; 
and  together  with  them  admits  of  the  verb  '  preacheth,'  in  the 
present  tense.  Then,  that  these  writings  were  some  or  all  of 
the  books  of  the  New  Testament,  is  rendered  probable  from 
hence,  that  in  the  fragments  of  his  works,  which  are  preserved 
in  Eusebius,  and  in  a  writer  of  the  ninth  century,  enough, 
though  it  be  little,  is  left  to  show,  that  Hegesippus  expressed 
divers  things  in  the  style  of  the  Gospels,  and  of  the  Acts  of  the 
Apostles  ;  that  he  referred  to  the  history  in  the  second  chapter 
of  Matthew,  and  recited  a  text  of  that  Gospel  as  spoken  by  our 
Lord. 

IX.  At  this  time,  viz.,  about  the  year  170,  the  churches  of 
Lyons  and  Yienne  in  France  sent  a  relation  of  the  sufferings  of 
their  martyrs  to  the  churches  of  Asia  and  Phrygia.2  The 
epistle  is  preserved  entire  by  Eusebius.  And  what  carries  in 
some  measure  the  testimony  of  these  churches  to  a  higher  age 
is,  that  they  had  now  for  their  bishop  Pothinus,  who  was  ninety 
years  old,  and  whose  early  life  consequently  must  have  imme- 
diately joined  on  with  the  times  of  the  apostles.  In  this 
epistle  are  exact  references  to  the  Gospels  of  Luke  and  John, 
and  to  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles.  The  form  of  reference  is  the 
same  as  in  all  the  preceding  articles.  That  from  St.  John  is 
in  these  words  :  '  Then  was  fulfilled  that  which  was  spoken  by 
the  Lord,  that  whosoever  killeth  you,  will  think  that  he  doeth 
God  service.'3 

X.  The  evidence  now  opens  upon  us  full  and  clear.  Irenseus4 
succeeded  Pothinus  as  bishop  of  Lyons.     In  his  youth  he  had 


1  Lardner's  Cred.  vol.  i.  p.  314. 
a  Lardner's  Cred.  vol.  i.  p.  332.         3  John  xvi.  2.  *  Lard.  vol.  i.  p.  344. 


132  Evidences  of  Christianity.  [Part  I. 

been  a  disciple  of  Polycarp,  who  was  a  disciple  of  John.  In  the 
time  in  which  he  lived,  he  was  distant  not  much  more  than  a 
century  from  the  publication  of  the  Gospels  :  in  his  instruction, 
only  by  one  step  separated  from  the  persons  of  the  Apostles, 
lie  asserts  of  himself  and  his  contemporaries,  that  they  were 
able  to  reckon  up,  in  all  the  principal  churches,  the  succession 
of  bishops  from  the  first.1  I  remark  these  particulars  concerning 
Irena?us  with  more  formality  than  usual ;  because  the  testimony 
which  this  writer  affords  to  the  historical  books  of  the  New 
Testament,  to  their  authority,  and  to  the  titles  which  they  bear, 
is  express,  positive,  and  exclusive.  One  principal  passage,  in 
which  this  testimony  is  contained,  opens  with  a  precise  assertion 
of  the  point  which  we  have  laid  down  as  the  foundation  of  our 
argument,  viz.,  that  the  story  which  the  Gospels  exhibit  is  the 
story  which  the  Apostles  told.  '  "We  have  not  received,'  saith 
Irenaeus,  '  the  knowledge  of  the  way  of  our  salvation  by  any 
others  than  those  by  whom  the  gospel  has  been  brought  to  us. 
Which  gospel  they  first  preached,  and  afterwards,  by  the  will  of 
God,  committed  to  writing,  that  it  might  be  for  time  to  come 
the  foundation  and  pillar  of  our  faith. — For  after  that  our  Lord 
rose  from  the  dead,  and  they  (the  apostles)  were  endowed  from 
above  with  the  power  of  the  Holy  Ghost  coming  down  upon 
them,  they  received  a  perfect  knowledge  of  all  things.  They 
then  went  forth  to  all  the  ends  of  the  earth,  declaring  to  men 
the  blessings  of  heavenly  peace,  having  all  of  them,  and  every  one 
alike,  the  gospel  of  God.  Matthew  then,  among  the  Jews,  writ 
a  gospel  in  their  own  language,  while  Peter  and  Paul  were 
preaching  the  gospel  at  Rome,  and  founding  a  church  there. 
And  after  their  exit,  Mark  also,  the  disciple  and  interpreter  of 
Peter,  delivered  to  us  in  writing  the  things  that  had  been 
preached  by  Peter.  And  Luke,  the  companion  of  Paul,  put 
do  wo  in  a  book  the  gospel  preached  by  him  (Paul).  After- 
wards John,  the  disciple  of  the  Lord,  who  also  leaned  upon  his 
breast,  he  likewise  published  a  gospel  while  he  dwelt  at  Ephesus 
in  Asia.'  It*  any  modern  divine  should  write  a  book  upon  the 
genuineness  of  the  Gospels,  he  could  not  assert  it  more  ex- 
pressly, or  state  their  original  more  distinctly,  than  Irenaeus 


1  Adv.  Hceres.,  1.  iii.  c.  3. 


Ch.  ix.  §  i.]  A  uthentidty  of  the  Historical  Scriptures.  133 

hath  done  within  little  more  than  a  hundred  years  after  they 
were  published. 

The  correspondency,  in  the  days  of  Irenaeus,  of  the  oral  and 
written  tradition,  and  the  deduction  of  the  oral  tradition  through 
various  channels  from  the  age  of  the  apostles,  which  was  then 
lately  past,  and,  by  consequence,  the  probability  that  the 
books  truly  delivered  what  the  apostles  taught,  is  inferred  also 
with  strict  regularity  from  another  passage  of  his  works.  '  The 
tradition  of  the  Apostles  [this  Father  saith]  hath  spread  itself 
over  the  whole  universe ;  and  all  they,  who  search  after  the 
sources  of  truth,  will  find  this  tradition  to  be  held  sacred  in 
every  church.  We  might  enumerate  all  those  who  have  been 
appointed  bishops  to  these  churches  by  the  apostles,  and  all 
their  successors,  up  to  our  days.  It  is  by  this  uninterrupted 
succession  that  we  have  received  the  tradition  which  actually 
exists  in  the  church,  as  also  the  doctrines  of  truth,  as  it  was 
preached  by  the  apostles.'1  The  reader  will  observe  upon  this, 
that  the  same  Irenseus,  who  is  now  stating  the  strength  and 
uniformity  of  the  tradition,  we  have  before  seen  recognizing,  in 
the  fullest  manner,  the  authority  of  the  written  records  ;  from 
which  we  are  entitled  to  conclude,  that  they  were  then  con- 
formable to  each  other. 

I  have  said,  that  the  testimony  of  Irenseus  in  favor  of  our 
gospels  is  exclusive  of  all  others.  I  allude  to  a  remarkable 
passage  in  his  works,  in  which,  for  some  reasons  sufficiently 
fanciful,  he  endeavors  to  show,  that  there  could  be  neither 
more  nor  fewer  gospels  than  four.  With  his  argument  we  have 
no  concern.  The  position  itself  proves  that  four,  and  only  four, 
gospels  were  at  that  time  publicly  read  and  acknowledged. 
That  these  were  our  gospels,  and  in  the  state  in  which  we  now 
have  them,  is  shown  from  many  other  places  of  this  writer  be- 
side that  which  we  have  already  alleged.  He  mentions  how 
Matthew  begins  his  gospel,  how  Mark  begins  and  ends  his,  and 
their  supposed  reasons  for  so  doing.  He  enumerates  at  length 
the  several  passages  of  Christ's  history  in  Luke,  which  are  not 
found  in  any  of  the  other  evangelists.  He  states  the  particular 
design  with  which  St.  John  composed  his  gospel,  and  accounts 
for  the  doctrinal  declarations  which  precede  the  narrative. 


1  Ir.  in  Hcer.  1.  iii.  c.  3. 


1 34  Evidences  of  Christianity.  [Part  I. 

To  the  book  of  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles,  its  author  and 
credit,  the  testimony  of  Irenaeus  is  no  less  explicit.  Referring 
to  the  account  of  St.  Paul's  conversion  and  vocation,  in  the 
ninth  chapter  of  that  book,  '  Nor  can  they  [says  he,  meaning  the 
parties  with  whom  he  argues]  show  that  he  is  not  to  be  credited, 
wlio  has  related  to  us  the  truth  with  the  greatest  exactness.' 
In  another  place,  he  has  actually  collected  the  several  texts,  in 
which  the  writer  of  the  history  is  represented  as  accompanying 
St.  Paul,  which  leads  him  to  deliver  a  summary  of  almost  the 
whole  of  the  last  twelve  chapters  of  the  book. 

In  an  author,  thus  abounding  with  references  and  allusions 
to  the  Scriptures,  there  is  not  one  to  any  apocryphal  christian 
writing  whatever.  This  is  a  broad  line  of  distinction  between 
our  sacred  books  and  the  pretensions  of  all  others. 

The  force  of  the  testimony  of  the  period  which  we  h^ve 
considered,  is  greatly  strengthened  by  the  observation,  that  it 
is  the  testimony,  and  the  concurring  testimony,  of  writers  who 
lived  in  countries  remote  from  one  another.  Clement  flourished 
at  Rome,  Ignatius  at  Antioch,  Polycarp  at  Smyrna,  Justin 
Martyr  in  Syria,  and  Irenaeus  in  France. 

XL  Omitting  Athenagoras  and  Theophilus,  who  lived  about 
this  time  ;'  in  the  remaining  works  of  the  former  of  whom  are 
clear  references  to  Mark  and  Luke ;  and  in  the  works  of  the  latter, 
who  was  bishop  of  Antioch,  the  sixth  in  succession  from  the 
apostles,  evident  allusions  to  Matthew  and  John,  and  probable 
allusions  to  Luke  (which,  considering  the  nature  of  the  compo- 
sitions, that  they  were  addressed  to  heathen  readers,  is  as  much 
as  could  be  expected) ;  observing  also,  that  the  works  of  two 
learned  christian  writers  of  the  same  age,  Militiades  and  Pan- 
tsenus,2  are  now  lost ;  of  which  Miltiadea  Eusebius  records,  that 
his  writings  '  were  monuments  of  zeal  for  the  divine  oracles ;' 
and  which  Pantamus,  as  Jerome  testifies,  was  a  man  of  pru- 
dence and  learning,  both  in  the  divine  scriptures  and  secular 
literature,  and  had  left  many  commentaries  upon  the  holy 
scriptures  then  extant  :  passing  by  these  without  further 
remark,  we  come  to  one  of  the  most  voluminous  of  ancient 
christian  writers,  Clement  of  Alexandria.3     Clement  followed 


'  Lard.  vol.  i.  pp.  400.  422.  2  Ibid.  vol.  i.  pp.  418,  450. 

3  Ibid.  vol.  ii.  p.  469 


Oh.  ix.  §  i.]     Authenticity  of  the  Historical  Scriptures.         135 

Irenaeus  at  the  distance  of  only  sixteen  years,  and  therefore 
may  be  said  to  maintain  the  series  of  testimony  in  an  uninter- 
rupted continuation. 

In  certain  of  Clement's  works,  now  lost,  but  of  which  various 
parts  are  recited  by  Eusebius,  there  is  given  a  distinct  account 
of  the  order  in  which  the  four  gospels  were  written.  The 
gospels  which  contain  the  genealogies,  were  (he  says)  written 
first,  Mark's  next,  at  the  instance  of  Peter's  followers,  and 
John's  the  last;  and  this  account  he  tells  us  that  he  had 
received  from  Presbyters  of  more  ancient  times.  This  testi- 
mony proves  the  following  points  :  that  these  gospels  were  the 
histories  of  Christ  then  publicly  received,  and  relied  upon  ;  that 
the  dates,  occasions,  and  circumstances  of  their  publication  were 
at  that  time  subjects  of  attention  and  inquiry  among  Christians. 
In  the  works  of  Clement  which  remain,  the  four  gospels  are 
repeatedly  quoted  by  the  names  of  their  authors,  and  the  Acts 
of  the  Apostles  is  expressly  ascribed  to  Luke.  In  one  place, 
after  mentioning  a  particular  circumstance,  he  adds  these 
remarkable  words :  '  We  have  not  this  passage  in  the  four 
gospels  delivered  to  us,  but  in  that  according  to  the  Egyptians ;' 
which  puts  a  marked  distinction  between  the  four  gospels  and 
all  other  histories,  or  pretended  histories,  of  Christ.  In  another 
part  of  his  works,  the  perfect  confidence,  with  which  he 
received  the  gospels,  is  signified  by  him  in  these  words :  '  That 
this  is  true,  appears  from  hence,  that  it  is  written  in  the  Gospel 
according  to  St.  Luke ;'  and  again,  '  I  need  not  use  many 
words,  but  only  to  allege  the  evangelic  voice  of  the  Lord.' 
His  quotations  are  numerous.  The  sayings  of  Christ,  of  which 
he  alleges  many,  are  all  taken  from  our  gospels,  the  single 
exception  to  this  observation  appearing  to  be  a  loose1  quotation 
of  a  passage  in  St.  Matthew's  gospel. 

XII.  In  the  age  in  which  they  lived,2  Tertullian  joins  on 
with  Clement.     The  number  of  the  gospels  then  received,  the 

1  '  Ask  great  things,  and  the  small  shall  be  added  unto  you.'  Clement  rather 
chose  to  expound  the  words  of  Matthew  (vi.  33)  than  literally  to  cite  them  ;  and 
this  is  most  undeniably  proved  by  another  place  in  the  same  Clement,  where  he 
both  produces  the  text  and  these  words  as  an  exposition: — 'Seek  ye  first  the 
kingdom  of  heaven  and  its  righteousness,  for  these  are  the  great  things ;  but  the 
small  things,  and  things  relating  to  this  life,  shall  be  added  unto  you.' — Jones's 
New  and  Full  Method,  vol.  i.  p.  553. 

3  Lardner,  vol.  ii.  p.  561. 


136  Evidences  of  Christianity.  [Part  I. 

names  of  the  evangelists,  and  their  proper  descriptions,  are 
exhibited  by  this  writer  in  one  short  sentence : — '  Among  the 
apostles,  John  and  Matthew  teach  ns  the  faith ;  among  apos- 
tolical men,  Luke  and  Mark  refresh  it.'  The  next  passage  to 
be  taken  from  Tertullian,  affords  as  complete  an  attestation  to 
the  authenticity  of  our  books,  as  can  be  well  imagined.  After 
enumerating  the  churches  which  had  been  founded  by  Paul,  at 
Corinth  in  Galatia,  at  Philippi,  Thessalonica,  and  Ephesus  ; 
the  church  of  Rome  established  by  Peter  and  Paul ;  and  other 
churches  derived  from  John  ;  he  proceeds  thus : — '  I  say  then, 
that  with  them,  but  not  with  them  only  which  are  apostolical, 
but  with  all  who  have  fellowship  with  them  in  the  same  faith, 
is  that  gospel  of  Luke  received  from  its  first  publication,  which 
we  so  zealously  maintain  ;'  and  presently  afterwards  adds — '  The 
same  authority  of  the  apostolical  churches  will  support  the 
other  gospels,  which  we  have  from  them  and  according  to  them, 
I  mean  John's  and  Matthew's,  although  that  likewise,  which 
Mark  published,  may  be  said  to  be  Peter's,  whose  interpreter 
Mark  was.'  In  another  place  Tertullian  affirms,  that  the  three 
other  gospels  were  in  the  hands  of  the  churches  from,  the 
beginning,  as  well  as  Luke's.  This  noble  testimony  fixes  the 
universality  with  which  the  gospels  were  received,  and  their 
antiquity  ;  that  they  were  in  the  hands  of  all,  and  had  been  so 
from  the  first.  And  this  evidence  appears  not  more  than  one 
hundred  and  fifty  years  after  the  publication  of  the  books. 
The  reader  must  be  given  to  understand  that,  when  Tertullian 
speaks  of  maintaining  or  defending  (tuendi)  the  Gospel  of  St. 
Luke,  he  only  means  maintaining  or  defending  the  integrity  of 
the  copies  of  Luke  received  by  christian  churches,  in  opposi- 
tion to  certain  curtailed  copies  used  by  Marcion,  against  whom 
he  writes. 

This  author  frequently  cites  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles  under 
that  title,  once  calls  it  Luke's  commentary,  and  observes  how 
St.  Paul's  epistles  confirm  it. 

After  this  general  evidence,  it  is  unnecessary  to  add  par- 
ticular quotations.  These,  however,  are  so  numerous  and 
ample,  as  to  have  led  Dr.  Lardner  to  observe,  'that  there  are 
more  and  larger  quotations  of  the  small  volume  of  the  New 
Testament  in  this  one  christian  author,  than  there  are  of  all 


Chap.  ix.  §i.]    Authenticity  of  the  Historical  Scriptures.     137 

the  works  of  Cicero  in  writers  of  all   characters  for  several 
ages.'1 

Tertullian  quotes  no  christian  writing  as  of  equal  authority 
with  the  Scriptures,  and  no  spurious  book  at  all  ;  a  broad  line 
of  distinction,  we  may  once  more  observe,  between  our  sacred 
books  and  all  others. 

We  may  again  likewise  remark  the  wide  extent  through 
which  the  reputation  of  the  Gospels,  and  of  the  Acts  of  the 
Apostles,  had  spread,  and  the  perfect  consent  in  this  point  of 
distant  and  independent  societies.  It  is  now  only  about  one 
hundred  and  fifty  years  since  Christ  was  crucified  ;  and  within 
this  period,  to  say  nothing  of  the  apostolical  Fathers  who  have 
been  noticed  already,  we  have  Justin  Martyr  at  Neapolis, 
Theophilus  at  Antioch,  Irenajus  in  France,  Clement  at  Alex- 
andria, Turtullian  at  Carthage,  quoting  the  same  books  of  his- 
torical Scriptures,  and,  I  may  say,  quoting  these  alone. 

XIII.  An  interval  of  only  thirty  years,  and  that  occupied  by 
no  small  number  of  Christian  writers,2  whose  works  only  re- 
main in  fragments  and  quotations,  and  in  every  one  of  which  is 
some  reference  or  other  to  the  gospels  (and  in  one  of  them — 
Hippolytus,  as  preserved  in  Theodoret — is  an  abstract  of  the 
whole  gospel  history),  brings  us  to  a  name  of  great  celebrity  in 
christian  antiquity,  Origen3  of  Alexandria,  who,  in  the  quan- 
tity of  his  writings,  exceeded  the  most  laborious  of  the  Greek 
and  Latin  authors.  Nothing  can  be  more  peremptory  upon 
the  subject  now  under  consideration,  and,  from  a  writer  of  his 
learning  and  information,  more  satisfactory,  than  the  declara- 
tion of  Origen,  preserved,  in  an  extract  from  his  works,  by 
Eusebius :  '  That  the  four  gospels  alone  are  received  without 
dispute  by  the  whole  church  of  God  under  heaven  ;'  to  which 
declaration  is  immediately  subjoined  a  brief  history  of  the 
respective  authors,  to  whom  they  were  then,  as  they  are  now, 
ascribed.  The  language  holden  concerning  the  gospels  through- 
out the  works  of  Origen  which  remain,  entirely  corresponds 
with  the  testimony  here  cited.     His  attestation  to  the  Acts  of 


1  Lard.  vol.  ii.  p.  647. 
3  Minucius  Felix,  Apollonius.  Cains,  Asterius,  Urbanus,  Alexander  bishop  of 
Jerusalem,  Hippolytus,  Ammonius,  Julius  Africanus. 

3  Lard.  vol.  iii.  p.  234. 


138  Evidences  of  Christianity.  [Part  I. 

the  Apostles  is  no  less  positive :  '  And  Luke  also  once  more 
sounds  the  trumpet,  relating  the  acts  of  the  Apostles.'  The 
universality  with  which  the  scriptures  were  then  read,  is  well 
signified  by  this  writer,  in  a  passage  in  which  he  has  occasion 
to  observe  against  Celsus,  'That  it  is  not  in  any  private  books, 
or  such  as  are  read  by  a  few  only,  and  those  studious  persons, 
but  in  books  read  by  everybody,  that  it  is  written,  the  invi- 
sible things  of  God  from  the  creation  of  the  world  are  clearly 
seen,  being  understood  by  things  that  are  made.'  It  is  to  no 
purpose  to  single  out  quotations  of  scripture  from  such  a  writer 
as  this.  We  might  as  well  make  a  selection  of  the  quotations 
of  scripture  in  Dr.  Clarke's  sermons.  They  are  so  thickly 
sown  in  the  works  of  Origen,  that  Dr.  Mill  says,  '  If  we  had 
all  his  works  remaining,  we  should  have  before  us  almost  the 
whole  text  of  the  Bible.' 1 

Origen  notices,  in  order  to  censure,  certain  apocryphal  gos- 
pels. He  also  uses  four  writings  of  this  sort ;  that  is,  through- 
out his  large  works  he  once  or  twice,  at  the  most,  quotes  each 
of  the  four ;  but  always  with  some  mark,  either  of  direct  repro- 
bation, or  of  caution  to  his  readers,  manifestly  esteeming  them 
of  little  or  no  authority.  ». 

XIV.  Gregory,  bishop  of  Neocesarea,  and  Dionysius  of 
Alexandria,  were  scholars  of  Origen.  Their  testimony,  there- 
fore, though  full  and  particular,  may  be  reckoned  a  repetition 
only  of  his.  The  series,  however,  of  evidence,  is  continued  by 
Cyprian,  bishop  of  Carthage,  who  flourished  within  twenty 
years  after  Origen.  '  The  church  [says  this  Father]  is  watered 
like  Paradise,  by  four  rivers,  that  is,  by  four  gospels.'  The 
Acts  of  the  Apostles  is  also  frequently  quoted  by  Cyprian  under 
that  name,  and  under  the  name  of  the  '  Divine  Scriptures/ 
In  his  various  writings  are  such  constant  and  copious  citations 
of  scripture,  as  to  place  this  part  of  the  testimony  beyond  con- 
troversy. Nor  is  there,  in  the  works  of  this  eminent  African 
bishop,  one  quotation  of  a  spurious  or  apocryphal  Christian 
writing. 

XV.  Passing  over  a  crowd2  of  writers  following  Cyprian,  at 

1  Mill,  Proleg.  cap.  vi.  p.  66. 
a  Novatus,  Rome,  a.  d.  251.     Dionysius,  Rome.  a.  d.  259.     Commodian,  a.  d. 
270.     Anatulius.    Liuxlicea,  a.   d.  270.      Theognostus,  a.   d.  282.      Methodius, 
Lycia,  a.  i).  290.     I'hileas,  Egypt,  a.  d.  296. 


Ch.  ix.  §  i.]    Authenticity  of  the  Historical  Scriptures.         139 

different  distances,  but  all  within  forty  years  of  his  time  ;  and 
who  all,  in  the  imperfect  remains  of  their  works,  either  cite 
the  historical  scriptures  of  the  New  Testament,  or  speak  of 
them  in  terms  of  profound  respect;  I  single  out  Victorin, 
bishop  of  Pettaw  in  Germany,  merely  on  account  of  the  remote- 
ness of  his  situation  from  that  of  Origen  and  Cyprian,  who 
were  Africans  :  by  which  circumstance,  his  testimony  taken  in 
conjunction  with  theirs,  proves  that  the  scripture  histories,  and 
the  same  histories,  were  known  and  received  from  one  side  of 
the  christian  world  to  the  other.  This  bishop1  lived  about 
the  year  290 ;  and  in  a  commentary  upon  this  text  of  the 
Revelations,  '  The  first  was  like  a  lion,  the  second  was  like  a 
calf,  the  third  like  a  man,  and  the  fourth  like  a  flying  eagle,' 
he  makes  out  that  by  the  four  creatures  are  intended  the  four 
Gospels ;  and,  to  show  the  propriety  of  the  symbols,  he  recites 
the  subject  with  which  each  evangelist  opens  his  history.  The 
explication  is  fanciful,  but  the  testimony  positive.  He  also 
expressly  cites  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles. 

XYI.  Arnobius  and  Lactantius,2  about  the  year  300,  com- 
posed formal  arguments  upon  the  credibility  of  the  christian 
religion.  As  these  arguments  were  addressed  to  Gentiles,  the 
authors  abstain  from  quoting  christian  books  by  name,  one  of 
them  giving  this  very  reason  for  his  reserve :  but  when  they 
come  to  state,  for  the  information  of  their  readers,  the  outlines 
of  Christ's  history,  it  is  apparent  that  they  draw  their  accounts 
from  our  Gospels,  and  from  no  other  sources ;  for  these  state- 
ments exhibit  a  summary  of  almost  every  thing  which  is  related 
of  Christ's  actions  and  miracles  by  the  four  evangelists.  Arno- 
bius vindicates,  without  mentioning  their  names,  the  credit  of 
these  historians,  observing,  that  they  were  eye-witnesses  of  the 
facts  which  they  relate,  and  that  their  ignorance  of  the  arts  of 
composition  was  rather  a  confirmation  of  their  testimony,  than 
an  objection  to  it.  Lactantius  also  argues  in  defence  of  the 
religion,  from  the  consistency,  simplicity,  disinterestedness,  and 
sufferings  of  the  christian  historians,  meaning  by  that  term  our 
evangelists. 

XVII.  We  close  the  series  of  testimonies  with  that  of  Euse- 
bius,3  bishop  of  Caesarea,  who  flourished  in  the  year  315,  con- 


1  Lard.  vol.  v.  p.  214.       a  Ibid.  vol.  vii.  pp.  43,  201.         s  Ibid.  vol.  iii.  p.  33. 


140  Evidences  of  Christianity.  [Part  I. 

temporary  with,  or  posterior  only  by  fifteen  years  to,  the  two 
authors  last  cited.  This  voluminous  writer,  and  most  diligent 
collector  of  the  writings  of  others,  beside  a  variety  of  large 
works,  composed  a  history  of  the  affairs  of  Christianity  from 
its  origin  to  his  own  time.  His  testimony  to  the  scriptures  is 
the  testimony  of  a  man  much  conversant  in  the  works  of 
christian  authors,  written  during  the  three  first  centuries  of  its 
era ;  and  who  had  read  many  which  are  now  lost.  In  a  pas- 
sage of  his  evangelical  demonstration,  Eusebius  remarks,  with 
great  nicety,  the  delicacy  of  two  of  the  evangelists,  in  their 
manner  of  noticing  any  circumstance  which  regarded  them- 
selves, and  of  Mark,  as  writing  under  Peter's  direction,  in  the 
circumstances  which  regarded  him.  The  illustration  of  this 
remark  leads  him  to  bring  together  long  quotations  from  each 
of  the  evangelists  ;  and  the  whole  passage  is  a  proof,  that 
Eusebius,  and  the  Christians  of  those  days,  not  only  read  the 
gospels,  but  studied  them  with  attention  and  exactness.  In  a 
passage  of  his  ecclesiastical  history,  he  treats,  in  form,  and  at 
large,  of  the  occasions  of  writing  the  four  gospels,  and  .of  the 
order  in  which  they  were  written.  The  title  of  the  chapter  is, 
'  Of  the  Order  of  the  Gospels  ;'  and  it  begins  thus  :  '  Let  ius 
observe  the  writings  of  this  apostle  John,  which  are  not  con- 
tradicted by  any  ;  and,  first  of  all,  must  be  mentioned,  as 
acknowledged  by  all,  the  gospel  according  to  him,  well  known 
to  all  the  churches  under  heaven ;  and  that  it  has  been  justly 
placed  by  the  ancients  the  fourth  in  order,  and  after  the  other 
three,  may  be  made  evident  in  this  manner.'  Eusebius  then 
proceeds  to  show  that  John  wrote  the  last  of  the  four,  and  that 
his  gospel  was  intended  to  supply  the  omissions  of  the  others ; 
especially  in  the  part  of  our  Lord's  ministry,  which  took  place 
before  the  imprisonment  of  John  the  Baptist.  He  observes, 
'  that  the  apostles  of  Christ  were  not  studious  of  the  ornaments 
of  composition,  nor  indeed  forward  to  write  at  all,  being  wholly 
occupied  with  their  ministry.' 

This  learned  author  makes  no  use  at  all  of  christian 
writings,  forged  with  the  names  of  Christ's  apostles,  or  their 
roinpanions. 

We  close  this  branch  of  our  evidence  here ;  because,  after 
Eusebius,  there  is  no  room  for  any  question  upon  the  subject  ; 
the  works  of  christian  writers  being  as  full  of  texts  of  scrip- 


Chap.  ix.  §2.]    Authenticity  of  the  Historical  Scriptures.     Ill 

ture,  and  of  references  to  scripture,  as  the  discourses  of  modern 
divines.  Future  testimonies  to  the  books  of  scripture  could 
only  prove  that  they  never  lost  their  character  or  authority. 


Section  II. 

When  the  scriptures  are  quoted,  or  alluded  to,  they  are  quoted 
with  peculiar  respect,  as  books  sui  generis  ;  as  possessing  an 
authority  which  belonged  to  no  other  books,  and  as  conclusive 
in  all  questions  and  controversies  amongst  Christians. 

Beside  the  general  strain  of  reference  and  quotation,  which 
uniformly  and  strongly  indicates  this  distinction,  the  following 
may  be  regarded  as  specific  testimonies. 

I.  Theophilus,1  bishop  of  Antioch,  the  sixth  in  succession 
from  the  apostles,  and  who  flourished  little  more  than  a  century 
after  the  books  of  the  New  Testament  were  written,  having 
occasion  to  quote  one  of  our  gospels,  writes  thus  :  '  These 
things  the  holy  scriptures  teach  us,  and  all  who  were  moved  by 
the  Holy  Spirit,  among  whom  John  says,  In  the  beginning  was 
the  Word,  and  the  Word  was  with  God.'  Again :  '  Con- 
cerning the  righteousness  which  the  law  teaches,  the  like  things 
are  to  be  found  in  the  prophets  and  the  gospels,  because  that 
all  being  inspired,  spoke  by  one  and  the  same  Spirit  of  God.' 2 
No  words  can  testify  more  strongly  than  these  do,  the  high  and 
peculiar  respect  in  which  these  books  were  holden. 

II.  A  writer  against  Artemon,3  who  may  be  supposed  to 
come  about  one  hundred  and  fifty-eight  years  after  the  publi- 
cation of  the  scriptures,  in  a  passage  quoted  by  Eusebius,  uses 
these  expressions :  '  Possibly  what  they  [our  adversaries]  say, 
might  have  been  credited,  if  first  of  all  the  divine  scriptures  did 
not  contradict  them  ;  and  then  the  writings  of  certain  brethren 
more  ancient  than  the  times  of  Victor.'  The  brethren  mentioned 
by  name,  are  Justin,  Miltiades,  Tatian,  Clement,  Irenseus, 
Melito,  with  a  general  appeal  to  many  more  not  named.  This 
passage  proves,  first,  that  there  was  at  that  time  a  collection 
called  divine  scriptures ;  secondly,  that  these  scriptures  were 

1  Lard.  Ored.  part  ii.  vol.  i.  p.  429.  a  Ibid.  vol.  i.  p.  448. 

8  Ibid.  vol.  iii.  p.  40. 


142  Evidences  of  Christianity.  [Part  I. 

esteemed  of  higher  authority  than  the  writings  of  the  most 
earlv  and  celebrated  Christians. 

III.  In  a  piece  ascribed  to  Hippolytus,1  who  lived  near  the 
same  time,  the  author  professes,  in  giving  his  correspondent 
instruction  in  the  things  about  which  he  inquires,  'to  draw  out 
of  the  sacred  fountain,  and  to  set  before  him  from  the  sacred 
scriptures,  what  may  afford  him  satisfaction.'  He  then  quotes 
immediately  Paul's  epistles  to  Timothy,  and  afterwards  many 
books  of  the  New  Testament.  This  preface  to  the  quotations 
carries  in  it  a  marked  distinction  between  the  scriptures  and 
other  books. 

IY.  '  Our  assertions  and  discourses,'  saith  Origen,2  '  are  un- 
worthy of  credit ;  we  must  receive  the  scriptures  as  witnesses.' 
After  treating  of  the  duty  of  prayer,  he  proceeds  with  his  argu- 
ment thus  :  '  What  we  have  said  may  be  proved  from  the 
divine  scriptures.'  In  his  books  against  Celsus,  we  find  this 
passage :  '  That  our  religion  teaches  us  to  seek  after  wisdom, 
shall  be  shown,  both  out  of  the  ancient  Jewish  scriptures,  which 
we  also  use,  and  out  of  those  written  since  Jesus,  which  are 
believed  in  the  churches  to  be  divine.'  These  expressions  afford 
abundant  evidence  of  the  peculiar  and  exclusive  authority 
which  the  scriptures  possessed. 

Y.  Cyprian,  bishop  of  Carthage,3  whose  age  lies  close  to  that 
of  Origen,  earnestly  exhorts  christian  teachers,  in  all  doubtful 
cases,  '  to  go  back  to  the  fountain  ;  and  if  the  truth  has  in  any 
case  been  shaken,  to  recur  to  the  gospels  and  apostolic  writ- 
ings.'— '  The  precepts  of  the  gospel,'  says  he  in  another  place, 
'  are  nothing  less  than  authoritative  divine  lessons,  the  founda- 
tions of  our  hope,  the  supports  of  our  faith,  the  guides  of  our 
wav,  the  safeguards  of  our  course  to  heaven.' 

YI.  Novatus,'  a  Roman,  contemporary  with  Cyprian,  appeals 
to  the  scriptures,  as  the  authority  by  which  all  errors  were  to 
be  repelled,  and  disputes  decided.  '  That  Christ  is  not  only 
man,  but  God  also,  is  proved  by  the  sacred  authority  of  the 
divine  writings.' — '  The  divine  scripture  easily  detects  and 
confutes  the  frauds  of  heretics.' — 'It  is  not  by  the  fault  of  the 


1  Lard.  Cred.  vol.  iii.  p.  112.      a  Ibid.  pp.  287,  288,  289.      »  Ibid.  vol.  iv.  p.  840. 

4  Ibid.  vol.  v.  p.  102. 


Ch.  ix.  §  2.]  Authenticity  of  the  Historical  Scriptures.         143 

heavenly  scriptures,  which  never  deceive.'     Stronger  assertions 
than  these  could  not  be  used. 

VII.  At  the  distance  of  twenty  years  from  the  writer  last 
cited,  Anatolius,1  a  learned  Alexandrian,  and  bishop  of  Laodicea, 
speaking  of  the  rule  for  keeping  Easter,  a  question  at  that  day 
agitated  with  much  earnestness,  says  of  those  whom  he  opposed, 
'  They  can  by  no  means  prove  their  point  by  the  authority  of 
the  divine  scripture.' 

VIII.  The  Arians,  who  sprung  up  about  fifty  years  after 
this,  argued  strenuously  against  the  use  of  the  words  consub- 
stantial  and  essence,  and  like  phrases  ;  because  they  were  not  in 
scripture.'' 2  And  in  the  same  strain,  one  of  their  advocates 
opens  a  conference  with  Augustine,  after  the  following  man- 
ner :  '  If  you  say  what  is  reasonable,  I  must  submit.  If  you 
allege  any  thing  from  the  divine  scriptures,  winch  are  common 
to  both,  I  must  hear.  But  unscriptural  expressions  (gum 
extra  scripturam  sunt)  deserve  no  regard.' 

Athanasius,  the  great  antagonist  of  Arianism,  after  having 
enumerated  the  books  of  the  Old  and  New  Testament,  adds, 
'  These  are  the  fountains  of  salvation,  that  he  who  thirsts  may 
be  satisfied  with  the  oracles  contained  in  them.  In  these  alone 
the  doctrine  of  salvation  is  proclaimed.  Let  no  man  add  to 
them,  or  take  any  thing  from  them.' 3 

IX.  Cyril,  bishop  of  Jerusalem,4  who  wrote  about  twenty 
years  after  the  appearance  of  Arianism,  uses  these  remarkable 
words  :  '  Concerning  the  divine  and  holy  mysteries  of  faith,  not 
the  least  article  ought  to  be  delivered  without  the  divine  scrip- 
tures.' "We  are  assured  that  Cyril's  scriptures  were  the  same 
as  ours,  for  he  has  left  us  a  catalogue  of  the  books  included 
under  that  name. 

X.  Epiphanius,5  twenty  years  after  Cyril,  challenges  the 
Arians,  and  the  followers  of  Origen,  '  to  produce  any  passage 
of  the  Old  or  New  Testament,  favoring  their  sentiments.' 

XL  Poebadius,  a  Gallic  bishop,  who  lived  about  thirty  years 
after  the  council  of  Nice,  testifies,  that  '  the  bishops  of  that 
council  first  consulted  the  sacred  volumes,  and  then  declared 
their  faith.' 6 

1  Lard.  Cred.  vol.  v.  p.  146.  s  Ibid.  vol.  viii.  pp.  283,  284. 

3  Ibid.  vol.  xii.  p.  182.  *  Ibid.  vol.  viii.  p.  276.  *  Ibid.  p.  314. 

o  Ibid.  vol.  ix.  p.  52. 


1-W:  Evidences  of  Christianity.  [Part  1. 

XII.  Basil,  bishop  of  Cesarea,  in  Cappadocia,  contemporary 
with  Epiphanius,  says,  '  that  hearers  instructed  in  the  scriptures 
ought  to  examine  what  is  said  by  their  teachers,  and  to  embrace 
what  is  agreeable  to  the  scriptures,  and  to  reject  what  is  other- 
wise.' 1 

XIII.  Ephraim,  the  Syrian,  a  celebrated  writer  of  the  same 
times,  bears  this  conclusive  testimony  to  the  proposition  which 
forms  the  subject  of  our  present  chapter:  'The  truth  written 
in  the  sacred  volume  of  the  gospel,  is  a  perfect  rule.  Nothing 
can  be  taken  from  it,  nor  added  to  it,  without  great  guilt.'2 

XI Y.  If  we  add  Jerome  to  these,  it  is  only  for  the  evidence 
which  he  affords  of  the  judgment  of  preceding  ages.  Jerome 
observes,  concerning  the  quotations  of  ancient  christian  writers, 
that  is,  of  writers  who  were  ancient  in  the  year  400,  that  they 
made  a  distinction  between  books ;  some  they  quoted  as  of 
authority,  and  others  not:  which  observation  relates  to  the 
books  of  scripture,  compared  with  other  writings,  apocryphal  or 
heathen.3 


Section  III. 

The  scriptures  were  in  very  early  times  collected  into  a  distinct 

volume. 

Ignatius,  who  was  bishop  of  Antioch  within  forty  years 
after  the  ascension,  and  who  had  lived  and  conversed  with 
the  apostles,  speaks  of  the  gospel  and  of  the  apostles,  in  terms 
which  render  it  very  probable,  that  he  meant  by  the  gospel,  the 
book  or  volume  of  the  Gospels,  and  by  the  apostles,  the  book 
or  volume  of  their  Epistles.  His  words  in  one  place  are,4 
'  fleeing  to  the  Gospel  as  the  flesh  of  Jesus,  and  to  the  Apostles 
as  the  presbytery  of  the  Church ;'  that  is,  as  Le  Clerc  inter- 
prets them,  '  in  order  to  understand  the  will  of  God,  he  fled  to 
the  gospels,  which  he  believed  no  less  than  if  Christ  in  the 
flesh  had  been  speaking  to  him ;  and  to  the  writings  of  the 
apostles,  whom  he  esteemed  as  the  presbytery  of  the  whole 

1  Lard.  Cred.  vol.  ix.  p.  124.  ■  Ibid.  p.  202.  » Ibid.  vol.  x.  pp.  123,  124. 

4  Ibid.  part.  ii.  vol.  i.  p.  180. 


Ch.  ix.  §  3.]  Authenticity  of  the  Historical  Scriptures.         145 

christian  church.'  It  must  be  observed,  that  about  eighty 
years  after  this  we  have  direct  proof,  in  the  writings  of  Clement 
of  Alexandria,1  that  these  two  names,  '  Gospel'  and  '  Apostles,' 
were  the  names  by  which  the  writings  of  the  New  Testament, 
and  the  division  of  these  writings,  were  usually  expressed. 

Another  passage  from  Ignatius  is  the  following : — '  But  the 
Gospel  has  somewhat  in  it  more  excellent,  the  appearance  of 
our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  his  passion  and  resurrection.'2 

And  a  third,  '  Ye  ought  to  hearken  to  the  Prophets,  but 
especially  to  the  Gospel,  in  which  the  passion  has  been  mani- 
fested to  us,  and  the  resurrection  perfected.'  In  this  last  pas- 
sage the  prophets  and  the  gospel  are  put  in  conjunction ;  and 
as  Ignatius  undoubtedly  meant  by  the  Prophets  a  collection 
of  writings,  it  is  probable  that  he  meant  the  same  by  the 
Gospel,  the  two  terms  standing  in  evident  parallelism  with  each 
other. 

This  interpretation  of  the  word '  gospel'  in  the  passages  above 
quoted  from  Ignatius,  is  confirmed  by  a  piece  of  nearly  equal 
antiquity,  the  relation  of  the  martyrdom  of  Polycarp  by  the 
Church  of  Smyrna.  'All  things,'  say  they,  <  that  went  before 
were  done,  that  the  Lord  might  show  us  a  martyrdom  accord- 
ing to  the  gospel,  for  he  expected  to  be  delivered  up  as  the 
Lord  also  did.'3  And  in  another  place, '  We  do  not  commend 
those  who  offer  themselves,  forasmuch  as  the  gospel  teaches  us 
no  such  thing.'4  In  both  these  places,  what  is  called  the 
gospel  seems  to  be  the  history  of  Jesus  Christ,  and  of  his 
doctrine. 

If  this  be  the  true  sense  of  the  passages,  they  are  not  only 
evidences  of  our  proposition,  but  strong  and  very  ancient  proofs 
of  the  high  esteem  in  which  the  books  of  the  New  Testament 
were  holden. 

II.  Eusebius  relates,  that  Quadratus  and  some  others,  who 
were  the  immediate  successors  of  the  apostles,  travelling  abroad 
to  preach  Christ,  carried  the  gospels  with  them,  and  delivered 
them  to  their  converts.  The  words  of  Eusebius  are :  '  Then 
travelling  abroad,  they  performed  the  work  of  evangelists,  being 
ambitious  to  preach  Christ,  and  deliver  the  scripture  of  the  divine 


1  Lard.  Cred.  vol.  ii.  p.  516. 
'  Ibid.  p.  182.  a  Ig.  Ep.  c.  i.  *  Ibid.  c.  iv. 

10 


146  Evidences  of  Christianity.  [Part  I. 

gospels?1  Eusebius  had  before  him  the  writings  both  of  Quad- 
ratic himself,  and  of  many  others  of  that  age,  which  are  now 
lost.  It  is  reasonable,  therefore,  to  believe,  that  he  had  good 
grounds  for  his  assertion.  What  is  thus  recorded  of  the  gos- 
pels took  place  within  sixty,  or  at  the  most  seventy,  years  after 
they  were  published  :  and  it  is  evident,  that  they  must,  before 
this  time  (and,  it  is  probable,  long  before  this  time),  have  been 
in  general  use,  and  in  high  esteem  in  the  churches  planted  by 
the  apostles,  inasmuch  as  they  were  now,  we  find,  collected 
into  a  volume  ;  and  the  immediate  successors  of  the  apostles, 
they  who  preached  the  religion  of  Christ  to  those  who  had  not 
already  heard  it,  carried  the  volume  with  them,  and  delivered 
it  to  their  converts. 

III.  Irenseus,  in  the  year  178,2  puts  the  evangelic  and 
apostolic  writings  in  connection  with  the  law  and  the  prophets, 
manifestly  intending  by  the  one  a  code  or  collection  of  chris- 
tian sacred  writings,  as  the  other  expressed  the  code  or  collec- 
tion of  Jewish  sacred  writings.     And, 

IV.  Melito,  at  this  time  bishop  of  Sardis,  writing  to^one 
Onesimus,  tells  his  correspondent,3  that  he  had  procurea  an 
accurate  account  of  the  books  of  the  Old  Testament.  The 
occurrence,  in  this  passage,  of  the  term  Old  Testament,  has 
been  brought  to  prove,  and  it  certainly  does  prove,  that  there 
was  then  a  volume  or  collection  of  writings  called  the  New 
Testament. 

V.  In  the  time  of  Clement  of  Alexandria,  about  fifteen  years 
after  the  last  quoted  testimony,  it  is  apparent  that  the  chris- 
tian scriptures  were  divided  into  two  parts,  under  the  general 
titles  of  the  Gospels  and  Apostles ;  and  that  both  these  were 
regarded  as  of  the  highest  authority.  One,  out  of  many  ex- 
pressions of  Clement  alluding  to  this  distribution,  is  the  follow- 
ing : — 'There  is  a  consent  and  harmony  between  the  law  and 
the  prophets,  the  apostles  and  the  gospel.'4 

VI.  The  same  division,  '  Prophets,  Gospels,  and  Apostles,' 
appears  in  Tertullian,6  the  contemporary  of  Clement.  The  col- 
lection  of  the    gospels  is   likewise  called  by  this  writer  the 


1  Lard.  Cred.  pt.  ii.  vol.  i.  p.  236.  *  Ibid.  vol.  i.  p.  383. 

Ibid.  p.  331.  *  Ibid.  vol.  ii.  p.  516.  6  Ibid.  p.  631. 


Cli.  ix.  §  4.]     Authenticity  of  the  Historical  Scriptures.         147 

'Evangelic  Instrument;'1  the  whole  volume,  the  'New  Testa- 
ment;' and  the  two  parts,  the  'Gospels  and  A po sties.'2 

VII.  From  many  writers  also  of  the  third  century,  and 
especially  from  Cyprian,  who  lived  in  the  middle  of  it,  it  is  col- 
lected, that  the  christian  scriptures  were  divided  into  two  codes 
or  volumes,  one  called  the  'Gospels  or  Scriptures  of  the  Lord,' 
the  other,  the  '  Apostles,  or  Epistles  of  Apostles.' 3 

VIII.  Eusebius,  as  we  have  already  seen,  takes  some  pains 
to  show,  that  the  Gospel  of  St.  John  had  been  justly  placed  by 
the  Ancients  'the  fourth  in  order,  and  after  the  other  three.'4 
These  are  the  terms  of  his  proposition  ;  and  the  very  introduc- 
tion of  such  an  argument  proves  incontestably,  that  the  four 
gospels  had  been  collected  into  a  volume,  to  the  exclusion  of 
every  other ;  that  their  order  in  the  volume  had  been  adjusted 
with  much  consideration  ;  and  that  this  had  been  done  by  those 
who  were  called  Ancients  in  the  time  of  Eusebius. 

In  the  Diocletian  persecution  in  the  year  303,  the  scriptures 
were  sought  out  and  burnt ; 5  many  suffered  death  rather  than 
deliver  them  up ;  and  those  who  betrayed  them  to  the  perse- 
cutors were  accounted  as  lapsed  and  apostate.  On  the  other 
hand,  Constantine,  after  his  conversion,  gave  directions  for 
multiplying  copies  of  the  divine  oracles,  and  for  magnificently 
adorning  them  at  the  expense  of  the  imperial  treasury.6  What 
the  Christians  of  that  age  so  richly  embellished  in  their  pros- 
perity, and,  which  is  more,  so  tenaciously  preserved  under  per- 
secution, was  the  very  volume  of  the  New  Testament  which  we 
now  read. 


Section  TV. 

Our  present  sacred  writings  were  soon  distinguished  by  appro- 
priate names  and  titles  of  respect. 

I.  Polycarp:  'I  trust  ye  are  well  exercised  in  the  holy 
scriptures — as  in  these  scriptures  it  is  said,  Be  ye  angry 
and   sin   not,   and   let    not    the    sun    go   down    upon    your 


1  Lard.  Ored.  vol.  ii.  p.  574.  a  Ibid.  p.  632.  *  Ibid.  vol.  iv.  p.  846. 

4  Ibid.  vol.  viii.  p.  00.  a  Ibid.  vol.  vii.  p.  214  et  seq. 

Ibid.  p.  432. 


i 


148  Evidences  of  Christianity.  [Part  I. 

wrath.'1  This  passage  is  extremely  important;  because  it 
proves  that,  in  the  time  of  Polycarp,  who  had  lived  with  the 
apostles,  there  were  christian  writings  distinguished  by  the 
name  of  '  holy  scriptures'  or  sacred  writings.  Moreover,  the 
text  quoted  by  Polycarp  is  a  text  found  in  the  collection  at 
this  day.  What  also  the  same  Polycarp  hath  elsewhere  quoted 
in  the  same  manner,  may  be  considered  as  proved  to  belong  to 
the  collection ;  and  this  comprehends  St.  Matthew's,  and,  pro- 
bably, St.  Luke's  gospel,  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles,  ten  epistles 
of  Paul,  the  first  epistle  of  Peter,  and  the  first  of  John.'2  In 
another  place  Polycarp  has  these  words :  '  Whoever  perverts 
the  oracles  of  the  Loi^d  to  his  own  lusts,  and  says  there  is 
neither  resurrection  nor  judgment,  he  is  the  first-born  of 
Satan.'3 — It  does  not  appear  what  else  Polycarp  could  mean  by 
the  '  oracles  of  the  Lord,'  but  those  same  '  holy  scriptures,' 
or  sacred  writings,  of  which  he  had  spoken  before. 

II.  Justin  Martyr,  whose  apology  was  written  about  thirty 
years  after  Polycarp's  epistle,  expressly  cites  some  of  our  pre- 
sent histories  under  the  title  of  gospel,  and  that  not.  as  a 
name  by  him  first  ascribed  to  them,  but  as  the  name  by  which 
they  were  generally  known  in  his  time.  His  words  are  theafe : 
— '  For  the  apostles,  in  the  memoirs  composed  by  them,  which 
are  called  gospels,  have  thus  delivered  it,  that  Jesus  commanded 
them  to  take  bread,  and  give  thanks.' i  There  exists  no  doubt, 
but  that,  by  the  memoirs  above  mentioned,  Justin  meant  our 
present  historical  scriptures,  for,  throughout  his  works,  he 
quotes  these,  and  no  others. 

III.  Dionysius,  bishop  of  Corinth,  who  came  thirty  years 
after  Justin,  in  a  passage  preserved  in  Eusebius  (for  his  works 
are  lost),  speaks  '  of  the  scriptures  of  the  Lord.'5 

IV.  And  at  the  same  time,  or  very  nearly  so,  by  Irenseus, 
bishop  of  Lyons,  in  France,6  they  are  called  '  divine  scriptures,' 
— 'divine  oracles,' — 'scriptures  of  the  Lord,' — '  evangelic  and 
ai 'ostolic  writings.'7  The  quotations  of  Irenreus  prove  decidedly, 
that  onr  present  Gospels,  and  these  alone,  together  with  the 


1  Lard.  Cred.  vol.  i.  203.  a  Ibid.  p.  223.  s  Ibid.  p.  222. 

*  Ibid.  p.  271.  "  Ibid.  p.  298. 

c  The  reader  will  observe  the  remoteness  of  these  two  writers  in  country  and 
situation. 

7  Ibid.  p.  343  et  seq. 


Ch.  ix.  §  5.]    Authenticity  of  the  Historical  Scriptures.  149 

Acts  of  the  Apostles,  were  the  historical  books  comprehended 
by  him  under  these  appellations. 

Y.  St.  Matthew's  gospel  is  quoted  by  Theophilus,  bishop 
of  Antioch,  contemporary  with  Irenaeus,  under  the  title  of  the 
'  evangelical  voice ;"  and  the  copious  works  of  Clement  of 
Alexandria,  published  within  fifteen  years  of  the  same  time, 
ascribe  to  the  books  of  the  New  Testament  the  various  titles  of 
'sacred  books,' — 'divine  scriptures,' — 'divinely  inspired  scrip- 
tures,'— '  scriptures  of  the  Lord,' — '  the  true  evangelical  canon.'2 

"VI.  Tertullian,  who  joins  on  with  Clement,  besides  adopting 
most  of  the  names  and  epithets  above  noticed,  calls  the  gospels 
'  our  Digesta,'  in  allusion,  as  it  should  seem,  to  some  collection 
of  Roman  laws3  then  extant. 

VTI.  By  Origen,  who  came  thirty  years  after  Tertullian, 
the  same,  and  other  no  less  strong  titles,  are  applied  to  the 
christian  scriptures,  and,  in  addition  thereunto,  this  writer 
frequently  speaks  of  the  '  Old  and  New  Testament,' — '  the 
ancient  and  new  scriptures,' — '  the  ancient  and  new  oracles.'4 

VIII.  In  Cyprian,  who  was  not  twenty  years  later,  there  are 
'  books  of  the  spirit,' — '  divine  fountains,' — '  fountains  of  the 
divine  fulness.'5 

The  expressions  we  have  thus  quoted  are  evidences  of  high 
and  peculiar  respect.  They  all  occur  within  two  centuries 
from  the  publication  of  the  books.  Some  of  them  commence 
with  the  companions  of  the  apostles  ;  and  they  increase  in 
number  and  variety,  through  a  series  of  writers,  touching 
upon  one  another,  and  deduced  from  the  first  age  of  the 
religion. 


Section  V. 

Our  scriptures  werepublicly  read  and  expounded  in  the  religious 
assemblies  of  the  early  Christians. 

Justin  Martyr,  who  wrote  in  the  year  140,  which  was  seventy 
or  eighty  years  after  some,  and  less,  probably,  after  others 
of  the  g-oopels  were  published,  giving,  in  his  first   apology, 

1  Lard.  Cred.  vol.  i.  p.  427.  a  Ibid.  vol.  ii.  p.  515.  3  Ibid.  p.  630. 

4  Ibid.  vol.  iii.  p.  280.  5  Ibid.  vol.  iv.  p.  844. 


150  Evidences  of  Christianity.  [Part  I. 

an  account,  to  the  Emperor,  of  the  christian  worship,  has  this 
remarkable  passage : — 

'  The  memoirs  of  the  apostles,  or  the  writings  of  the  prophets, 
are  read  according  as  the  time  allows ;  and,  when  the  reader 
has  ended,  the  president  makes  a  discourse,  exhorting  to  the 
imitation  of  so  excellent  things.' 1 

A  few  short  observations  will  show  the  value  of  this  testimony. 

1.  The  '  memoirs  of  the  apostles,'  Justin  in  another  place 
expressly  tells  us,  are  what  are  called  '  gospels  ;'  and  that  they 
were  the  gospels,  which  we  now  use,  is  made  certain  by  Justin's 
numerous  quotations  of  them,  and  his  silence  about  any  others. 

2.  Justin  describes  the  general  usage  of  the  christian  church. 

3.  Justin  does  not  speak  of  it  as  recent  or  newly  instituted, 
but  in  the  terms  in  which  men  speak  of  established  customs. 

II.  Tertullian,  who  followed  Justin  at  the  distance  of  about 
fifty  years,  in  his  account  of  the  religious  assemblies  of  Chris- 
tians as  they  were  conducted  in  his  time,  says,  '  We  come 
together  to  recollect  the  divine  scriptures ;  we  nourish  our 
faith,  raise  our  hope,  confirm  our  trust,  by  the  sacred  word.'2 

III.  Eusebius  records  of  Origen,  and  cites  for  his  authority 
the  letters  of  bishops  contemporary  with  Origen,  that,  when  fie 
went  into  Palestine  about  the  year  216,  which  was  only  sixteen 
years  after  the  date  of  Tertullian's  testimony,  he  was  desired  by 
the  bishops  of  that  country  to  discourse  and  expound  the  scrip- 
tures publicly  in  the  church,  though  he  was  not  yet  ordained  a 
presbyter.3  This  anecdote  recognizes  the  usage,  not  only  of 
reading,  but  of  expounding,  the  scriptures  ;  and  both  as  subsist- 
ing in  full  force.  Origen  also  himself  bears  witness  to  the 
same  practice  :  'This  [says  he]  we  do,  when  the  scriptures  are 
read  in  the  church,  and  when  the  discourse  for  explication  is 
delivered  to  the  people.'4  And,  what  is  a  still  more  ample 
testimony,  many  homilies  of  his  upon  the  scriptures  of  the  New 
Testament,  delivered  by  him  in  the  assemblies  of  the  church, 
are  still  extant. 

IV.  Cyprian,  whose  age  was  not  twenty  years  lower  than 
that  of  Origen,  gives  his  people  an  account  of  having  ordained 
two  persons,  who  were  before  confessors,  to  be  readers ;    and 


1   Lard.  Ored.  vol.  i.  p.  273.  "  Ibid.  vol.  ii.  p.  628.  s  Ibid.  vol.  iii.  p.  68. 

♦  Ibid.  p.  302 


Chap.  ix.  §  5.]  Authenticity  of  the  Historical  Scrijrftires.     15 1 

what  they  were  to  read,  appears  by  the  reason  which  he  gives 
for  his  choice  : — '  Nothing  [says  Cyprian]  can  be  more  fit,  than 
that  he,  who  has  made  a  glorious  confession  of  the  Lord,  should 
read  publicly  in  the  church ;  that  he  who  has  shown  himself 
willing  to  die  a  martyr,  should  read  the  gospel  of  Christ,  by 
which  martyrs  are  made.'1 

Y.  Intimations  of  the  same  custom  may  be  traced  in  a  great 
number  of  writers  in  the  beginning  and  throughout  the  whole 
of  the  fourth  century.  Of  these  testimonies  1  will  only  use 
one,  as  being,  of  itself,  express  and  full.  Augustine,  who  ap- 
peared near  the  conclusion  of  the  century,  displays  the  benefit 
of  the  christian  religion  on  this  very  account,  the  public  read- 
ing of  the  scriptures  in  the  churches,  '  where  [says  he]  is  a  con- 
fluence of  all  sorts  of  people  of  both  sexes  ;  and  where  they  hear 
how  they  ought  to  live  wrell  in  this  wrorld,  that  they  may  de- 
serve to  live  happily  and  eternally  in  another.'  And  this  cus- 
tom he  declares  to  be  universal :  '  The  canonical  books  of 
scripture  being  read  everywhere,  the  miracles  therein  recorded 
are  well  known  to  all  people.' 2 

It  does  not  appear  that  any  books,  other  than  our  present 
scriptures,  were  thus  publicly  read,  except  that  the  epistle  of 
Clement  was  read  in  the  church  of  Corinth,  to  which  it  had 
been  addressed,  and  in  some  others ;  and  that  the  Shepherd  of 
Hermas  was  read  in  many  churches.  Nor  does  it  subtract 
much  from  the  value  of  the  argument,  that  these  two  writings 
partly  come  within  it,  because  we  allow  them  to  be  the  genuine 
writings  of  apostolical  men.  There  is  not  the  least  evidence, 
that  any  other  gospel,  than  the  four  which  we  receive,  was  ever 
admitted  to  this  distinction. 


1  Lard.  Cred.  vol.  iv.  p.  482.  »  Ibid.  vol.  x.  p.  276  et  seq. 


152  .Evidences  of  Christianity.  [Part  I. 


Section  YI. 

Commentaries  were  anciently  written  upon  the  scriptures  ;  har- 
monies formed  out  of  them  y  different  copies  carefully  col- 
lated /  and  versions  made  of  them  into  different  languages. 

No  greater  proof  can  be  given  of  the  esteem  in  which  these 
books  were  hold  en  by  the  ancient  Christians,  or  of  the 
sense  then  entertained  of  their  value  and  importance,  than  the 
industry  bestowed  upon  them.  And  it  ought  to  be  observed, 
that  the  value  and  importance  of  these  books  consisted  entirely 
in  their  genuineness  and  truth.  There  was  nothing  in  them 
as  works  of  taste,  or  as  compositions,  which  could  have  induced 
any  one  to  have  written  a  note  upon  them.  Moreover  it  shows 
that  they  were  even  then  considered  as  ancient  books.  Men 
do  not  write  comments  upon  publications  of  their  own  times : 
therefore  the  testimonies  cited  under  this  head  afford  an  evi- 
dence which  carries  up  the  evangelical  writings  much  beyond 
the  age  of  the  testimonies  themselves,  and  to  that  of  their, 
reputed  authors. 

I.  Tatian,  a  follower  of  Justin  Martyr,  and  who  nourished 
about  the  year  170,  composed  a  harmony,  or  collation,  of  the 
gospels,  which  he  called  Diatessaron,  Of  the  four.1  The  title, 
as  well  as  the  work,  is  remarkable ;  because  it  shows  that  then, 
as  now,  there  were  four,  and  only  four,  gospels  in  general  use 
with  Christians.  And  this  was  little  more  than  a  hundred  years 
after  the  publication  of  some  of  them. 

II.  Pantaenus,  of  the  Alexandrian  school,  a  man  of  great 
reputation  and  learning,  who  came  twenty  years  after  Tatian, 
wrote  many  commentaries  upon  the  holy  scriptures,  which,  as 
Jerome  testifies,  were  extant  in  his  time.2 

III.  Clement  of  Alexandria  wrote  short  explications  of  many 
books  of  the  Old  and  New  Testament.3 

IY.  Tertullian  appeals  from  the  authority  of  a  later  version, 
then  in  use,  to  the  authentic  Greek.4 

Y.  An  anonymous  author  quoted  by  Eusebius,  and  who 
appears  to  have  written  about  the  year  212,  appeals  to  tbo 

i  Lard.  Ored.  vol.  i.  p.  307.  3  Ibid.  p.  455.  3  Ibid.  vol.  ii.  p.  4G2. 

•  Ibid.  p.  638. 


Ch.  ix.  §  6.]    Authenticity  of  the  Historical  Scriptures.         153 

ancient  copies  of  the  scriptures,  in  refutation  of  some  corrupt 
readings  alleged  by  the  followers  of  Artemon.1 

YI.  The  same  Eusebius,  mentioning  by  name  several  wri- 
ters of  the  church  who  lived  at  this  time,  and  concerning 
whom  he  says,  '  There  still  remain  divers  monuments  of  the 
laudable  industry  of  those  ancient  and  ecclesiastical  men,' 
[i.  e.,  of  christian  writers  who  were  considered  as  ancient  in 
the  year  300],  adds,  'There  are  besides  treatises  of  many 
others,  whose  names  we  have  not  been  able  to  learn,  orthodox 
and  ecclesiastical  men,  as  the  interpretations  of  the  divine 
scriptures  given  by  each  of  them  show.2 

VII.  The  five  last  testimonies  may  be  referred  to  the 
year  200 ;  immediately  after  which,  a  period  of  thirty  years 
gives  us 

Julius  Africanus,  who  wrote  an  epistle  upon  the  apparent 
difference  in  the  genealogies  in  Matthew  and  Luke,  which  he 
endeavors  to  reconcile  by  the  distinction  of  natural  and  legal 
descent,  and  conducts  his  hypothesis  with  great  industry 
through  the  whole  series  of  generations.3 

Ammonius,  a  learned  Alexandrian,  who  composed,  as  Tatian 
had  done,  a  harmony  of  the  four  gospels;  which  proves,  as 
Tatian's  work  did,  that  there  were  four  gospels,  and  no  more, 
at  this  time  in  use  in  the  church.  It  affords  also  an  instance 
of  the  zeal  of  Christians  for  those  writings,  and  of  their  solici- 
tude about  them.4 

And,  above  both  these,  Origen,  who  wrote  commentaries,  or 
homilies,  upon  most  of  the  books  included  in  the  New  Testa- 
ment, and  upon  no  other  books  but  these.  In  particular,  he 
wrote  upon  St.  John's  gospel,  very  largely  upon  St.  Mat- 
thew's, and  commentaries,  or  homilies,  upon  the  Acts  of  the 
Apostles.5 

VIII.  In  addition  to  these,  the  third  century  likewise 
contains 

Dionysius  of  Alexandria,  a  very  learned  man,  who  com- 
pared, with  great  accuracy,  the  accounts  in  the  four  gospels 
of  the  time  of  Christ's  resurrection,  adding  a  reflection  which 
showed  his  opinion  of  their  authority :    '  Let  us  not  think  that 


lLard.  Cred.  vol.  iii.  p.  46.  2Ibid.  vol.  ii.  p.  551.  3Ibid.  vol.  hi.  p.  170. 

4  Ibid.  p.  122.  6  Ibid.  pp.  352,  192,  202,  245. 


154  Evidences  of  Christianity.  [Part  I. 

the  evangelists  disagree,  or  contradict  each  other,  although 
there  be  some  small  difference ;  but  let  us  honestly  and  faith- 
fully endeavor  to  reconcile  what  we  read.1 

Yictorin,  bishop  of  Pettaw  in  Germany,  who  wrote  com- 
ments upon  St.  Matthew's  gospel.2 

Lucian,  a  presbyter  of  Antioch;  and  Hesychius,  an  Egyptian 
bishop,  who  put  forth  editions  of  the  New  Testament. 

IX.  The  fourth  century  supplies  a  catalogue3  of  fourteen 
writers,  who  expended  their  labors  upon  the  books  of  the 
New  Testament,  and  whose  works  or  names  are  come  down 
to  our  times ;  amongst  which  number  it  may  be  sufficient,  for 
the  purpose  of  showing  the  sentiments  and  studies  of  learned 
Christians  of  that  age,  to  notice  the  following : 

Eusebius,  in  the  very  beginning  of  the  century,  wrote  ex- 
pressly upon  the  discrepancies  observable  in  the  gospels,  and 
likewise  a  treatise,  in  which  he  pointed  out  what  things  are 
related  by  four,  what  by  three,  what  by  two,  and  what  by  one 
evangelist.4  This  author  also  testifies,  what  is  certainly  a 
material  piece  of  evidence,  '  that  the  writings  of  the  apostles 
had  obtained  such  an  esteem,  as  to  be  translated  into  every 
language  both  of  Greeks  and  barbarians,  and  to  be  diligently 
studied  by  all  nations.' 5  This  testimony  was  given  about  the 
year  300 ;  how  long  before  that  date  these  translations  were 
made  does  not  appear. 

Damasus,  bishop  of  Rome,  corresponded  with  St.  Jerome 
upon  the  exposition  of  difficult  texts  of  scripture;  and,  in  a 
letter  still  remaining,  desires  Jerome  to  give  him  a  clear  ex- 
planation of  the  word  Hosanna,  found  in  the  New  Testament ; 
'  he  [Damasus]  having  met  with  very  different  interpretations 
of  it  in  the  Greek  and  Latin  commentaries  of  catholic  writers 
which  he  had  read.'6  This  last  clause  shows  the  number  and 
variety  of  commentaries  then  extant. 


1  Lard.  Cred.  vol.  iv.  p.  661 . 

'Eusebius a.  d.  315 

Juvencus,  Spain 330 

Theodore,  Thrace 334 

Hilary,  Poietiers 354 

Fortunatus 340 

Apollinarius    of    Lao- 

dicea 362 

Damasus.  Rome 366 

*Ibid.  vol.  viii.  p.  46.  » Ibid. 


a  Ibid.  p. 

195 

Gregory,  Nyssen.  .a. d. 

371 

Didymus  of  Alex. . . . 

370 

Ambrose  of  Milan. . . . 

374 

Diodore  of  Tarsus. . . . 

378 

Gaudent.  of  Brescia. . 

387 

Theodore  of  Cilicia.  . . 

394 

392 

398 

p.  201.               « Ibid,  vol 

ix.  p. 

108. 

Ch.  ix.  §  6.]    Authenticity  of  the  Historical  Scriptures.        155 

Gregory  of  Nyssen,  at  one  time  appeals  to  the  most  exact 
copies  of  St.  Mark's  gospel ;  at  another  time  compares  to- 
gether, and  proposes  to  reconcile,  the  several  accounts  of  the 
resurrection  given  by  the  four  evangelists',  which  limitation 
proves,  that  there  were  no  other  histories  of  Christ  deemed 
authentic  beside  these,  or  included  in  the  same  character  with 
these.  This  writer  observes,  acutely  enough,  that  the  dis- 
position of  the  clothes  in  the  sepulchre,  the  napkin  that  was 
about  our  Saviour's  head,  not  lying  with  the  linen  clothes,  but 
wrapped  together  in  a  place  by  itself,  did  not  bespeak  the  terror 
and  hurry  of  thieves,  and  therefore  refutes  the  story  of  the 
body  being  stolen.1 

Ambrose,  bishop  of  Milan,  remarked  various  readings  in  the 
Latin  copies  of  the  New  Testament,  and  appeals  to  the  original 
Greek ; 

And  Jerome,  towards  the  conclusion  of  this  century,  put 
forth  an  edition  of  the  New  Testament  in  Latin,  corrected,  at 
least  as  to  the  gospels,  by  Greek  copies,  '  and  those  [he  says] 
ancient.' 

Lastly,  Chrysostom,  it  is  well  known,  delivered  and  published 
a  great  many  homilies,  or  sermons,  upon  the  Gospels  and  the 
Acts  of  the  Apostles. 

It  is  needless  to  bring  down  this  article  lower ;  but  it  is  of 
importance  to  add,  that  there  is  no  example  of  christian  writers 
of  the  three  first  centuries  composing  comments  upon  any  other 
books  than  those  which  are  found  in  the  New  Testament,  ex- 
cept the  single  one  of  Clement  of  Alexandria,  commenting  upon 
a  book  called  the  Revelation  of  Peter. 

Of  the  ancient  versions  of  the  New  Testament,  one  of  the 
most  valuable  is  the  Syriac.  Syriac  was  the  language  of  Pales- 
tine when  Christianity  was  there  first  established.  And  although 
the  books  of  scripture  were  written  in  Greek,  for  the  purpose 
of  a  more  extended  circulation  than  within  the  precincts  of 
Judea,  yet  it  is  probable  that  they  would  soon  be  translated 
into  the  vulgar  language  of  the  country  where  the  religion  first 
prevailed.  Accordingly  a  Syriac  translation  is  now  extant,  all 
along,  so  far  as  it  appears,  used  by  the  inhabitants  of  Syria, 


1  Lard.  Cred.  vol.  ix.  p.  163. 


156  Evidences  of  Christianity.  [Part  I. 

bearing  many  internal  marks  of  high  antiquity,  supported  in 
its  pretensions  by  the  uniform  tradition  of  the  East,  and  con- 
firmed by  the  discovery  of  many  very  ancient  manuscripts  in 
the  libraries  of  Europe.  It  is  about  two  hundred  years  since  a 
bishop  of  Antioch  sent  a  copy  of  this  translation  into  Europe, 
to  be  printed ;  and  this  seems  to  be  the  first  time  that  the 
translation  became  generally  known  to  these  parts  of  the  world. 
The  Bishop  of  Antioch's  Testament  was  found  to  contain  all 
our  books,  except  the  second  epistle  of  Peter,  the  second  and 
third  of  John,  and  the  Revelation  ;  which  books,  however,  have 
since  been  discovered  in  that  language  in  some  ancient  manu- 
scripts of  Europe.  But  in  this  collection,  no  other  book,  beside 
what  is  in  ours,  appears  ever  to  have  had  a  place.  And,  which 
is  very  worthy  of  observation,  the  text,  though  preserved  in  a 
remote  country,  and  without  communication  with  ours,  differs 
from  ours  very  little,  and  in  nothing  that  is  important.1 


Section  YEL 

Our  scriptures  were  received  by  ancient  Christians  of  different 
sects  and  persuasions,  by  many  heretics  as  well  as  catholics, 
and  were  usually  appealed  to  by  both  sides  in  the  contro- 
versies which  arose  in  those  days. 

The  three  most  ancient  topics  of  controversy  amongst  Chris- 
tians, were  the  authority  of  the  Jewish  constitution,  the 
origin  of  evil,  and  the  nature  of  Christ.  Upon  the  first  of 
these,  we  find,  in  very  early  times,  one  class  of  heretics  reject- 
ing the  Old  Testament  entirely ;  another  contending  for  the 
obligation  of  its  law,  in  all  its  parts,  throughout  its  whole 
extent,  and  over  every  one  who  sought  acceptance  with  God. 
Upon  the  two  latter  subjects  a  natural,  perhaps,  and  venial, 
but  a  fruitless,  eager,  and  impatient  curiosity,  prompted  by  the 
philosophy  and  by  the  scholastic  habits  of  the  age,  which  car- 
ried men  much  into  bold  hypotheses  and  conjectural  solutions, 


1  Jones  on  the  Canon,  vol.  i.  c.  14. 


Ch.  ix.  §  7.]  Authenticity  of  the  Historical  Scriptures.         157 

raised,  amongst  some  who  professed  Christianity,  very  wild  and 
unfounded  opinions.  I  think  there  is  no  reason  to  believe  that 
the  number  of  these  bore  any  considerable  proportion  to  the 
body  of  the  christian  church  ;  and  amidst  the  disputes  which 
such  opinions  necessarily  occasioned,  it  is  a  great  satisfaction 
to  perceive,  what  in  a  vast  plurality  of  instances  we  do  per- 
ceive, all  sides  recurring  to  the  same  scriptures. 

I.1  Basilides  lived  near  the  age  of  the  apostles,  about  the 
year  120,  or  perhaps  sooner.2  He  rejected  the  Jewish  institu- 
tion, not  as  spurious,  but  as  proceeding  from  a  being  inferior 
to  the  true  God ;  and  in  other  respects  advanced  a  scheme  of 
theology  widely  different  from  the  general  doctrine  of  the  chris- 
tian church,  and  which,  as  it  gained  over  some  disciples,  was 
warmly  opposed  by  christian  writers  of  the  second  and  third 
century.  In  these  writings  there  is  positive  evidence,  that 
Basilides  received  the  gospel  of  Matthew  ;  and  there  is  no  suf- 
ficient proof  that  he  rejected  any  of  the  other  three  ;  on  the 
contrary,  it  appears  that  he  wrote  a  commentary  upon  the 
gospel,  so  copious  as  to  be  divided  into  twenty-four  books.3 

II.  The  Valentinians  appeared  about  the  same  time.4  Their 
heresy  consisted  in  certain  notions  concerning  angelic  natures, 
which  can  hardly  be  rendered  intelligible  to  a  modern  reader. 
They  seem,  however,  to  have  acquired  as  much  importance  as 
any  of  the  separatists  of  that  early  age.  Of  this,  sect  Irenseus, 
who  wrote  a.  d.  172,  expressly  records,  that  they  endeavored 
to  fetch  arguments  for  their  opinions  from  the  evangelic  and 
apostolic  writings.5  Heracleon,  one  of  the  most  celebrated  of 
the  sect,  and  who  lived  probably  so  early  as  the  year  125,  wrote 
commentaries  upon  Luke  and  John.6  Some  observations  also 
of  his  upon  Matthew  are  preserved  by  Origen.7  Nor  is  there 
any  reason  to  doubt  that  he  received  the  whole  New  Testa- 
ment. 

Ill    The  Carpocratians  were  also  an  early  heresy,  little,  if 


1  The  materials  of  the  former  part  of  this  section  are  taken  from  Dr.  Lardner's 
History  of  the  Heretics  of  the  two  first  Centuries,  published  since  his  death,  with  ad- 
ditions by  the  Bev.  Mr.  Hogg,  of  Exeter,  and  inserted  into  the  ninth  volume  of 
his  works,  of  the  edition  of  1788. 

»  Ibid.  vol.  ix.  p.  271.  '  Ibid.  ed.  1788,  pp.  305,  306. 

4  Ibid.  pp.  350,  351. 

6  Ibid.  vol.  i.  p.  383.        6  Ibid.  vol.  ix.  ed.  1788,  p.  352.         '  Ibid.  p.  353. 


158  Evidences  of  Christianity.  [Part    I. 

at  all,  later  than  the  two  preceding.1  Some  of  their  opinions 
resembled  what  we  at  this  day  mean  by  Socinianism.  With 
respect  to  the  scriptures,  they  are  specifically  charged,  by  Irenseus 
and  by  Epiphanius,  with  endeavoring  to  pervert  a  passage  in 
Matthew,  which  amounts  to  a  positive  proof  that  they  received 
that  gospel.2  Negatively,  they  are  not  accused,  by  their  adver- 
saries, of  rejecting  any  part  of  the  ISTew  Testament. 

IV.  The  Sethians,  a.d.  150  ;3  the  Montanists,  a.d.  156 ;4  the 
Marcosians,  160  ;5  Hermogenes,  a.d.  180  ;6  Praxias,  a.d.  196  ;7 
Artemon,  a.d.  200  ;8  Theodotus,  a.d.  200;  all  included  under 
the  denomination  of  heretics,  and  all  engaged  in  controversies 
with  Catholic  Christians,  received  the  scriptures  of  the  New 
Testament. 

V.  Tatian,  who  lived  in  the  year  172,  went  into  many  ex- 
travagant opinions,  was  the  founder  of  a  sect  called  Encratites, 
and  was  deeply  involved  in  disputes  with  the  Christians  of  that 
age  ;  yet  Tatian  so  received  the  four  gospels,  as  to  compose  a 
harmony  from  them. 

YI.  From  a  writer,  quoted  by  Eusebius,  of  about  the  year 
200,  it  is  apparent  that  they,  who,  at  that  time,  contended  for 
the  mere  humanity  of  Christ,  argued  from  the  scriptures ;  fir 
they  are  accused,  by  this  writer,  of  making  alterations  in  their 
copies,  in  order  to  favor  their  opinions.9 

VII.  Origen's  sentiments  excited  great  controversies,  the 
Bishops  of  Rome  and  Alexandria,  and  many  others,  condemn- 
ing, the  Bishops  of  the  East  espousing  them  ;  yet  there  is  not 
the  smallest  question,  but  that  both  the  advocates  and  adver- 
saries of  these  opinions  acknowledged  the  same  authority  of 
scripture.  In  his  time,  which  the  reader  will  remember  was 
about  one  hundred  and  fifty  years  after  the  scriptures  were 
published,  many  dissensions  subsisted  among  Christians,  with 
which  they  were  reproached  by  Celsus  ;  yet  Origen,  who  has 
recorded  this  accusation  without  contradicting  it,  nevertheless 
testifies,  that  the  four  gospels  were  received  without  dispute,  by 
the  whole  church  of  God  under  heaven." 


10 


•  Laid.  vol.  ix.  p.  309.  3  Ibid.  318.  3  Ibid.  p.  455. 

'  Ibid.  p.  482.  5  Ibid.  p.  348.  «  Ibid.  p.  473. 

»  Ibid.  p.  433.  a  Ibid.  p.  4G6.  •  Ibid.  vol.  iii.  p.  4G. 

10  Ibid.  vol.  iv.  p.  042. 


Ch.  ix.  §  ".]     Authenticity  of  the  Historical  Scriptures.         159 

VIII.  Paul  of  Samosata,  about  thirty  years  after  Origen,  so 
distinguished  himself  in  the  controversy  concerning  the  nature 
of  Christ,  as  to  be  the  subject  of  two  councils,  or  synods,  as- 
sembled at  Antioch,  upon  his  opinions.  Yet  he  is  not  charged 
by  his  adversaries  with  rejecting  any  book  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment. On  the  contrary,  Epiphanius,  who  wrote  a  history  of 
heretics  a  hundred  years  afterwards,  says,  that  Paul  endea- 
vored to  support  his  doctrine  by  texts  of  scripture.  And 
Vicentius  Lirinensis,  a.  d.  434,  speaking  of  Paul  and  other 
heretics  of  the  same  age,  has  these  words  :  '  Here,  perhaps,  some 
one  may  ask,  whether  heretics  also  urge  the  testimony  of  scrip- 
ture. They  urge  it,  indeed,  explicitly  and  vehemently  ;  for 
you  may  see  them  flying  through  every  book  of  the  sacred 
law.'1 

IX.  A  controversy  at  the  same  time  existed  with  the  Noe- 
tians  or  Sabellians,  who  seem  to  have  gone  into  the  opposite 
extreme  from  that  of  Paul  of  Samosata  and  his  followers.  Yet, 
according  to  the  express  testimony  of  Epiphanius,  Sabellius 
received  all  the  scriptures.  And  with  both  sects  Catholic  writers 
constantly  allege  the  scriptures,  and  reply  to  the  arguments 
which  their  opponents  drew  from  particular  texts. 

We  have  here,  therefore,  a  proof  that  parties,  who  were  the 
most  opposite  and  irreconcilable  to  one  another,  acknowledged 
the  authority  of  scripture  with  equal  deference. 

X.  And  as  a  general  testimony  to  the  same  point,  may  be 
produced  what  was  said  by  one  of  the  bishops  of  the  council  of 
Carthage,  which  was  holden  a  little  before  this  time.  '  I  am  of 
opinion  that  blasphemous  and  wicked  heretics,  who  pervert  the 
sacred  and  adorable  words  of  the  scriptures,  should  be  exe- 
crated.'2    Undoubtedly  what  they  perverted,  they  received. 

XL  The  Millennium,  Novatianism,  the  baptism  of  heretics, 
the  keeping  of  Easter,  engaged  also  the  attention  and  divided 
the  opinions  of  Christians,  at  and  before  that  time  (and,  by 
the  way,  it  may  be  observed,  that  such  disputes,  though  on 
some  accounts  to  be  blamed,  showed  how  much  men  were  in 
earnest  upon  the  subject) ;  yet  every  one  appealed  for  the 
grounds  of  his  opinion  to  scripture  authority.  Dionysius  of 
Alexandria,  who  flourished  a.  d.  247,  describing  a  conference  or 


1  Lard.  vol.  xi.  p.  158.  «  Ibid.  p.  839. 


1 60  Evidences  of  Christianity.  [Part  I. 

public  disputation,  with  the  Millenarians  of  Egypt,  confesses  of 
them,  though  their  adversary,  '  that  they  embraced  whatever 
could  be  made  out  by  good  arguments  from  the  holy  scrip- 
tures.'1 Novatus,  a.  d.  251,  distinguished  by  some  rigid  senti- 
ments concerning  the  reception  of  those  who  had  lapsed,  and 
the  founder  of  a  numerous  sect,  in  his  few  remaining  works 
quotes  the  gospel  with  the  same  respect  as  other  Christians  did ; 
and  concerning  his  followers  the  testimony  of  Socrates,  who 
wrote  about  the  year  440,  is  positive,  viz., '  That  in  the  disputes 
between  the  Catholics  and  them,  each  side  endeavored  to  sup- 
port itself  by  the  authority  of  the  divine  scriptures.'2 

XII.  The  Donatists,  who  sprung  up  in  the  year  328,  used 
the  same  scriptures  as  we  do.  'Produce  [saith  Augustine] 
some  proof  from  the  scriptures,  whose  authority  is  common  to 
us  both.'3 

XIII.  It  is  perfectly  notorious,  that,  in  the  Arian  contro- 
versy, which  arose  soon  after  the  year  300,  both  sides  appealed 
to  the  same  scriptures,  and  with  equal  professions  of  deference 
and  regard.  The  Arians,  in  their  council  of  Antioch,  a.  d.  341, 
pronounce,  that,  '  if  any  one,  contrary  to  the  sound  doctrin$  of 
the  scriptures,  say  that  the  Son  is  a  creature,  as  one  of  the 
creatures,  let  him  be  an  anathema.'4  They  and  the  Athana- 
sians  mutually  accuse  each  other  of  using  xinscriptural  phrases  ; 
which  was  a  mutual  acknowledgment  of  the  conclusive  author- 
ity of  scripture. 

XIY.  The  Priscillianists,  a.d.  378,5  the  Pelagians,  a.d.  405,6 
received  the  same  scriptures  as  we  do. 

XY.  The  testimony  of  Chrysostom,  who  lived  near  the  year 
400,  is  so  positive  in  affirmation  of  the  proposition  which  we 
maintain,  that  it  may  form  a  proper  conclusion  of  the  argument. 
'  The  general  reception  of  the  gospels  is  a  proof  that  their 
history  is  true  and  consistent;  for,  since  the  writing  of  the 
gospels,  many  heresies  have  arisen,  holding  opinions  contrary 
to  what  is  contained  in  them,  who  yet  receive  the  gospels  either 
entire  or  in  part.'7  I  am  not  moved  by  what  may  seem  a 
deduction  from  Chrysostom's  testimony,  the  words  '  entire  or 


1  Lard.  vol.  iv.  p.  666.  a  Ibid.  vol.  v.  p.  105.  s  Ibid.  vol.  vii.  p.  243. 

4  Ibid.  p.  277.  6  Ibid.  vol.  ix.  p.  325.  8  Ibid.  vol.  xi.  p.  52. 

7  Ibid.  vol.  x.  316. 


Ch.  ix.  §7.]     Authenticity  of  the  Historical  Scriptures.         161 

in  part ;'  for,  if  all  the  parts  which  were  ever  questioned  in  our 
gospels,  were  given  up,  it  would  not  affect  the  miraculous 
origin  of  the  religion  in  the  smallest  degree :  e.  g. 

Cerinthus  is  said  by  Epiphanius  to  have  received  the  gospel 
of  Matthew,  but  not  entire.  What  the  omissions  were  does 
not  appear.  The  common  opinion,  that  he  rejected  the  two 
first  chapters,  seems  to  have  been  a  mistake.1  It  is  agreed, 
however,  b}*  all  who  have  given  any  account  of  Cerinthus,  that 
he  taught  that  the  Holy  Ghost  (whether  he  meant  by  that 
name  a  person  or  a  power)  descended  upon  Jesus  at  his  bap- 
tism ;  that  Jesus  from  this  time  performed  many  miracles,  and 
that  he  appeared  after  his  death.  He  must  have  retained 
therefore  the  essential  parts  of  the  history. 

Of  all  the  ancient  heretics  the  most  extraordinary  was 
Marcion.2  One  of  his  tenets  was  the  rejection  of  the  Old  Tes- 
tament, as  proceeding  from  an  inferior  and  imperfect  deity  ; 
and  in  pursuance  of  this  hypothesis,  he  erased  from  the  Npw, 
and  that,  as  it  should  seem,  without  entering  into  any  critical 
reasons,  every  passage  which  recognized  the  Jewish  Scrip- 
tures. He  spared  not  a  text  which  contradicted  his  opin- 
ion. It  is  reasonable  to  believe  that  Marcion  treated  books 
as  he  treated  texts :  yet  this  rash  and  wild  controversialist 
published  a  recension,  or  chastised  edition,  of  St.  Luke's 
gospel,  containing  the  leading  facss,  and  all  which  is  neces- 
sary to  authenticate  the  religion.  This  example  affords  proof, 
that  there  were  always  some  points,  and  those  the  main 
points,  which  neither  wildness  nor  rashness,  neither  the  fury 
of  opposition  nor  the  intemperance  of  controversy,  would 
venture  to  call  in  question.  There  is  no  reason  to  believe 
that  Marcion,  though  full  of  resentment  against  the  Catholic 
Christians,  ever  charged  them  with  forging  their  books.  '  The 
Gospel  of  St.  Matthew,  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews,  with  those 
of  St.  Peter  and  St.  James,  as  well  as  the  Old  Testament  in 
general  (he  said),  were  writings  not  for  Christians  but  for 
Jews.'3    This    declaration    shows    the    ground    upon    which 


1  Lard.  vol.  ix.  ed.  1788,  p.  322. 
a  Ibid.  sect.  ii.  c.  x.     Also  Michael,  vol   i.  c.  i.  sect,  xviii. 
3  I  have  transcribed  this  sentence  from  Michaelis  (p.  38),  who  has  not,  how- 
ever, referred  to  the  authority  upon  which  he  attributes  these  words  to  Marcion. 

11 


162  Evidences  of  Christianity.  [Part  I. 

Marcion  proceeded  in  his  mutilation  of  the  scriptures,  viz.,  his 
dislike  of  the  passages  of  the  books.  Marcion  flourished  about 
the  year  130. 

Dr.  Lardner,  in  his  General  Review,  sums  up  this  head  of 
evidence  in  the  following  words  :  '  Noetus,  Paul  of  Samosata, 
Sabellius,  Marcellus,  Photinus,  the  Xovatians,  Donatists, 
Manicheans,1  Priseillianists,  beside  Artemon,  the  Audians,  the 
Arians,  and  divers  others,  all  received  most  or  all  the  same 
books  of  the  New  Testament  which  the  Catholics  received  ;  and 
agreed  in  a  like  respect  for  them  as  writ  by  apostles,  or  their 
disciples  and  companions.'2 


Section  VIII. 

The  four  Gosjxl*,  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles,  thirteen  Epistles  of  St. 
Paul,  the  first  Epistle  of  John,  and  the  first  of  Peter,  were 
received  without  doubt  by  those  who  doubted  concerning  the 
other  books  ivhich  are  included  in  our  present  Canon.- 

I  state  this  proposition,  because,  if  made  out,  it  shows  tl&t 
the  authenticity  of  their  books  was  a  subject  amongst  the 
early  Christians  of  consideration  and  inquiry  ;  and  that,  where 
there  was  cause  of  doubt,  they  did  doubt ;  a  circumstance 
which  strengthens  very  much  their  testimony  to  such  books  as 
were  received  by  them  with  full  acquiescence. 

I.  Jerome,  in  his  account  of  Caius,  who  was  probably  a 
presbyter  of  Rome,  and  who  flourished  near  the  year  200, 
records  of  him,  that  reckoning  up  only  thirteen  epistles  of 
Paul,  he  says  the  fourteenth,  which  is  inscribed  to  the  Hebrews, 
is  not  his;  and  then  Jerome  adds,  '  With  the  Romans  to  this 
day  it  is  not  looked  upon  as  Paul's.'  This  agrees  in  the  main 
with  the  account  given  by  Knsebius  of  the  same  ancient  author 
and  his  work  ;  except  that  Knsebius  delivers  his  own  remark  in 
more   guarded    terms,    'And    indeed    to    this    very    time,    by 


1  This  must  be  with  an  exception,  however,  of  Faustus,  who  lived  so  late  as 
the  year  384. 

2  Lard*,  vol.  xii.  p.  12. — Dr.  Lardner's  future  inquiries  supplied  him  with  many 
other  instances. 


Ch.  ix.  §  8.]  Authenticity  of  the  Historical  Scriptures.  163 

some    of  the  Romans,  this  epistle  is  not  thought  to  be  the 
apostle's.' 1 

II.  Origen,  about  twenty  years  after  Caius,  quoting  the 
epistle  to  the  Hebrews,  observes  that  some  might  dispute  the 
authority  of  that  epistle,  and  therefore  proceeds  to  quote  to 
the  same  point,  as  undoubted  books  of  scripture,  the  Gospel  of 
St.  Matthew,  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles,  and  Paul's  first  Epi^ilr 
to  the  Thessalonians.2  And  in  another  place,  this  author 
speaks  of  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews  thus : — '  The  account  come 
down  to  us  is  various,  some  saying  that  Clement,  who  was 
bishop  of  Rome,  wrote  this  epistle  ;  others,  that  it  was  Luke,  the 
same  who  writ  the  Gospel  and  the  Acts.'  Speaking  also  in  the 
same  paragraph  of  Peter,  '  Peter  [says  he]  has  left  one  epistle, 
acknowledged  ;  let  it  be  granted  likewise  that  he  wrote  a  second, 
for  it  is  doubted  of.1  And  of  John,  'He  has  also  left  one 
epistle,  of  a  very  few  lines ;  grant  also  a  second  and  a  third, 
for  all  do  not  allow  these  to  be  genuine.'  Now  let  it  be  noted, 
that  Origen,  who  thus  discriminates,  and  thus  confesses  his  own 
doubts,  and  the  doubts  which  subsisted  in  his  time,  expressly 
witnesses  concerning  the  four  gospels,  '  that  they  alone  are 
received  without  dispute  by  the  whole  church  of  God  under 
heaven.' 3 

III.  Dionysius  of  Alexandria,  in  the  year  247,  doubts  con- 
cerning the  Book  of  Revelation,  whether  it  was  written  by  St. 
John  ;  states  the  grounds  of  his  doubt ;  represents  the  diversity 
of  opinion  concerning  it,  in  his  own  time,  and  before  his  time.4 
Yet  the  same  Dionysius  uses  and  collates  the  four  gospels,  in  a 
manner  which  shows  that  he  entertained  not  the  smallest  sus- 
picion of  their  authority,  and  in  a  manner  also  which  shows 
that  they,  and  they  alone,  were  received  as  authentic  histories 
of  Christ.5 

IV.  But  this  section  may  be  said  to  have  been  framed  on 
purpose  to  introduce  to  the  reader  two  remarkable  passages, 
extant  in  Eusebius's  ecclesiastical  history.  The  first  passage 
opens  with  these  words — '  Let  us  observe  the  writings  of  the 
apostle  John  which  are  uncontradicted  ;  and  first  of  all  must  be 
mentioned,  as  acknowledged  of  all,  the  gospel  according  to  him, 


»  Lard.  vol.  iii.  p.  240.  2  Ibid.  p.  246.  3  Ibid.  vol.  iii.  p.  234. 

«  Ibid.  vol.  iv.  p.  670.  5  Ibid.  p.  661. 


164  Evidences  of  Christianity .  [Part  I. 

well  known  to  all  the  churches  under  heaven.'  The  author 
then  proceeds  to  relate  the  occasions  of  writing  the  gospels,  and 
the  reasons  for  placing  St.  John's  the  last,  manifestly  speaking 
of  all  the  four  as  parallel  in  their  authority,  and  in  the  certainty 
of  their  original.1  The  second  passage  is  taken  from  a  chapter, 
the  title  of  which  is, '  Of  the  Scriptures  universally  acknowledged, 
and  of  those  that  are  not  such.'  Eusebius  begins  his  enumera- 
tion in  the  following  manner: — '■In  the  first 'place  are  to  be 
ranked  the  sacred  four  Gospels,  then  the  book  of  the  Acts  of 
the  Apostles :  after  that  are  to  be  reckoned  the  Epistles  of  Paul. 
In  the  next  place,  that  called  the  first  Epistle  of  John,  and  the 
Epistle  of  Peter,  are  to  be  esteemed  authentic.  After  this  is 
to  be  placed,  if  it  be  thought  fit,  the  Revelation  of  John,  about 
which  we  shall  observe  the  different  opinions  at  proper  seasons. 
Of  the  controverted,  but  yet  well  known,  or  approved  by  the 
most,  are  that  called  the  Epistle  of  James,  and  that  of  Jude, 
and  the  second  of  Peter,  and  the  second  and  third  of  John, 
whether  they  are  written  by  the  evangelist,  or  another  of  the 
same  name.' 2  He  then  proceeds  to  reckon  up  five  others,  not 
in  our  Canon,  which  he  calls  in  one  place  spurious,  in  another 
controverted,  meaning,  as  appears  to  me,  nearly  the  same  thing 
by  these  two  words.3 

It  is  manifest  from  this  passage,  that  the  four  Gospels,  and 
the  Acts  of  the  Apostles,  (the  parts  of  scripture  with  which  our 
concern  principally  lies)  were  acknowledged  without  dispute, 
even  by  those  who  raised  objections,  or  entertained  doubts, 
about  some  other  parts  of  the  same  collection.  But  the  passage 
proves  something  more  than  this.  The  author  was  extremely 
conversant  in  the  writings  of  Christians,  which  had  been  pub- 
lished from  the  commencement  of  the  institution  to  his  own 
time  ;  and  it  was  from  these  writings  that  he  drew  his  knowledge 
of  the  character  and  reception  of  the  books  in  question.  That 
Eusebius  recurred  to  this  medium  of  information,  and  that  he 


1  Laid.  vol.  viii.  p.  90.  2  Ibid.  vol.  viii.  p.  89. 

»  That  Eusebius  could  not  intend,  by  the  word  rendered  'spurious,'  what  we  at 
present  mean  by  it.  is  evident  from  a  clause  in  this  very  chapter,  where,  speaking 
of  the  Gospels  of  Peter  and  Tbomas,  and  Matthias  and  some  others,  he  says, '  Tbey 
are  not  so  much  as  to  be  reckoned  among  the  spurious,  but  are  to  be  rejected  as 
altogether  absurd  and  impious.' ■ — Vol.  viii    p.  98. 


Ch.  ix.  §  8.]  Authenticity  of  the  Historical  Scriptures.         165 

had  examined  with  attention  this  species  of  proof,  is  shown, 
first,  by  a  passage  in  the  very  chapter  we  are  quoting,  in  which, 
speaking  of  the  books  which  he  calls  spurious,  '  None  [he  says] 
of  the  ecclesiastical  writers,  in  the  succession  of  the  apostles, 
have  vouchsafed  to  make  any  mention  of  them  in  their  writings ;' 
and  secondly,  by  another  passage  of  the  same  work,  wherein, 
speaking  of  the  first  epistle  of  Peter,  '  This  [he  says]  the  presby- 
ters of  ancient  times  have  quoted  in  their  writings  as  undoubt- 
edly genuine  ;*  and  then  speaking  of  some  other  writings  bear- 
ing the  name  of  Peter,  '  We  know  [he  says]  that  they  have  not 
been  delivered  down  to  us  in  the  number  of  catholic  writings, 
forasmuch  as  no  ecclesiastical  writer  of  the  ancients,  or  of  our 
times,  has  made  use  of  testimonies  out  of  them.'  'But  in  the 
progress  of  this  history,'  the  author  proceeds,  '  we  shall  make 
it  our  business  to  show,  together  with  the  successions  from  the 
apostles,  what  ecclesiastical  writers,  in  every  age,  have  used 
such  writings  as  these  which  are  contradicted,  and  what  they 
have  said  with  regard  to  the  scriptures  received  in  the  New 
Testament,  and  acknowledged  by  all,  and  with  regard  to  those 
which  are  not  such.'2 

After  this  it  is  reasonable  to  believe,  that,  when  Eusebius 
states  the  four  Gospels,  and  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles,  as  un- 
contradicted, uncontested,  and  acknowledged  by  all ;  and  when 
he  places  them  in  opposition,  not  only  to  those  which  were 
spurious  in  our  sense  of  that  term,  but  to  those  which  were 
controverted,  and  even  to  those  which  were  wrell  known  and 
approved  by  many,  yet  doubted  of  by  some  ;  he  represents  not 
only  the  sense  of  his  own  age,  but  the  result  of  the  evidence 
which  the  writings  of  prior  ages,  from  the  apostles'  time  to 
his  own,  had  furnished  to  his  inquiries.  The  opinion  of  Eusebius 
and  his  contemporaries  appears  to  have  been  founded  upon  the 
testimony  of  writers  whom  they  then  called  ancient:  and  we 
may  observe,  that  such  of  the  works  of  these  writers  as  have 
come  down  to  our  times,  entirely  confirm  the  judgment,  and 
support  the  distinction  which  Eusebius  proposes.  The  books 
which  he  calls  '  books  universally  acknowledged,'  are  in  fact 


Lard.  vol.  viii.  p.  99.  a  Ibid.  p.  Ill, 


166  Evidences  of  Christianity.  [Part  I. 

used  and  quoted  in  the  remaining;  works  of  christian  writers 
during  the  250  years  between  the  apostles'  time  and  that  of 
Eusebius,  much  more  frequently  than,  and  in  a  different  manner 
from,  those,  the  authority  of  which,  he  tells  us,  was  disputed. 


Section  IX. 

Our  historical  scriptures  were  attached  by  the  early  adversaries 
of  Christianity,  as  containing  the  accounts  upon  which  the 
religion  was  founded. 

I.  Near  the  middle  of  the  second  century,  Celsus,  a  heathen 
philosopher,  wrote  a  professed  treatise  against  Christianity.  To 
this  treatise,  Origen,  who  came  about  fifty  years  after  him, 
published  an  answer,  in  which  he  frequently  recites  his 
adversary's  words  and  arguments.  The  work  of  Celsus  is  lost ; 
but  that  of  Origen  remains.  Origen  appears  to  have  given  us 
the  words  of  Celsus,  where  he  professes  to  give  them,  ver^y 
faithfully ;  and,  amongst  other  reasons  for  thinking  so,  this  is 
one,  that  the  objection,  as  stated  by  him  from  Celsus,  is  some- 
times stronger  than  his  own  answer.  I  think  it  also  probable 
that  Origen,  in  his  answer,  has  retailed  a  large  portion  of  the 
work  of  Celsus  :  '  That  it  may  not  be  suspected  [he  says]  that 
we  pass  by  any  chapters,  because  we  have  no  answers  at  hand, 
I  have  thought  it  best,  according  to  my  ability,  to  confute 
every  thing  proposed  by  him,  not  so  much  observing  the 
natural  order  of  tilings,  as  the  order  which  he  has  taken 
himself.' ' 

Celsus  wrote  about  one  hundred  years  after  the  Gospels 
were  published  ;  and  therefore  any  notices  of  these  books  from 
him  are  extremely  important  for  their  antiquity.  They  are, 
however,  rendered  more  so  by  the  character  of  the  author;  for 
the  reception,  credit,  and  notoriety  of  these  books  must  have 
been  well  established  amongst  Christians,  to  have  made  them 
subjects  of  animadversion  and  opposition  by  strangers  and  by 
enemies.     It  evinces   the  truth   of  what  Chrysostom,  two  cen- 


1   Or.  Cent.  Cels.  1.  i.  sect,  41. 


Ch.  ix.  §  9.]   Authenticity  of  the  Historical  Scriptures.         167 

tunes  afterwards,  observed,  that  'the  Gospels,  when  written, 
were  not  hid  in  a  corner  or  buried  in  obscurity,  but  they  were 
made  known  to  all  the  world,  before  enemies  as  well  as  others, 
even  as  they  now  are.' ' 

1.  Celsus,  or  the  Jew  whom  he  personates,  uses  these  words 
— '  I  could  say  many  things  concerning  the  affairs  of  Jesus, 
and  those,  too,  different  from  those  written  by  the  disciples  of 
Jesus,  but  I  purposely  omit  them.' 2  Upon  this  passage  it  has 
been  rightly  observed,  that  it  is  not  easy  to  believe,  that  if 
Celsus  could  have  contradicted  the  disciples  upon  good  evidence 
in  any  material  point,  he  would  have  omitted  to  do  so  ;  and 
that  the  assertion  is,  what  Origen  calls  it,  a  mere  oratorical 
flourish. 

It  is  sufficient  however  to  prove,  that,  in  the  time  of  Celsus, 
there  were  books  well  known,  and  allowed  to  be  written  by  the 
disciples  of  Jesus,  which  books  contained  a  history  of  him.  By 
the  term  disciple,  Celsus  does  not  mean  the  followers  of  Jesus  in 
general,  for  them  he  calls  Christians,  or  believers,  or  the  like, 
but  those  who  had  been  taught  by  Jesus  himself,  i.  e.  his 
apostles  and  companions. 

2.  In  another  passage,  Celsus  accuses  the  Christians  of 
altering  the  gospel.3  The  accusation  refers  to  some  variations 
in  the  readings  of  particular  passages ;  for  Celsus  goes  on  to 
object,  that  when  they  are  pressed  hard,  and  one  reading  has 
been  confuted,  they  disown  that,  and  fly  to  another.  "We 
cannot  perceive  from  Origen  that  Celsus  specified  any  particular 
instances,  and  without  such  specification  the  charge  is  of  no 
value.  But  the  true  conclusion  to  be  drawn  from  it  is,  that 
there  were  in  the  hands  of  the  Christians,  histories,  which  were 
even  then  of  some  standing ;  for  various  readings  and  corrup- 
tions do  not  take  place  in  recent  productions. 

The  former  quotation,  the  reader  will  remember,  proved  that 
these  books  were  composed  by  the  disciples  of  Jesus,  strictly  so 
called  ;  the  present  quotation  shows  that,  though  objections 
were  taken  by  the  adversaries  of  the  religion  to  the  integrity 
of  these  books,  none  were  made  to  their  genuineness. 

3.  In  a  third   passage,  the  Jew,  whom   Celsus  introduces, 


1  In  Matt.  Hum.  i.  7. 
Lardnev'  Jewish  and  Heathen  Testim.  vol.  ii.  p.  274.  s  Ibid.  p.  275. 


168  Evidences  of  Christianity.  [Part  I. 

shuts  up  an  argument  in  this  manner : — '  These  things  then 
we  have  alleged  to  you  out  of  your  own  w?iitinys,  not  needing 
any  other  weapons.' !  It  is  manifest  that  this  boast  proceeds 
upon  the  supposition  that  the  books,  over  which  the  writer 
affects  to  triumph,  possessed  an  authority  by  which  Christians 
confessed  themselves  to  be  bound. 

4.  That  the  books  to  which  Celsus  refers  were  no  other  than 
our  present  Gospels,  is  made  out  by  his  allusions  to  various 
passages  still  found  in  these  Gospels.  Celsus  takes  notice  of  the 
genealogies,  which  fixes  two  of  these  gospels :  of  the  precepts, 
Resist  not  him  that  injures  you,  and,  If  a  man  strike  thee  on 
one  cheek,  offer  to  him  the  other  also  ;2  of  the  woes  denounced 
by  Christ ;  of  his  predictions  ;  of  his  saying  that  it  is  impossible 
to  serve  two  masters  ; 3  of  the  purple  robe,  the  crown  of  thorns, 
and  the  reed  in  his  hand ;  of  the  blood  that  flowed  from  the 
body  of  Jesus  uj)on  the  cross,4  which  circumstance  is  recorded 
by  John  alone  ;  and  [what  is  instar  omnium  for  the  purpose 
for  which  we  produce  it]  of  the  difference  in  the  accounts  given 
of  the  resurrection  by  the  evangelists,  some  mentioning  two 
angels  at  the  sepulchre,  others  only  one.5  i 

It  is  extremely  material  to  remark,  that  Celsus  not  only  per- 
petually referred  to  the  accounts  of  Christ  contained  in  the  four 
Gospels,6  but  that  he  referred  to  no  other  accounts ;  that  he 
founded  none  of  his  objections  to  Christianity  upon  any  thing- 
del  ivcred  in  spurious  gospels. 

II.  What  Celsus  was  in  the  second  century,  Porphyry  be- 
came in  the  third.  His  work,  which  was  a  large  and  formal 
treatise  against  the  christian  religion,  is  not  extant.  We  must 
be  content  therefore  to  gather  his  objections  from  christian 
writers,  who  have  noticed  in  order  to  answer  them  :  and  enough 
remains  of  this  species  of  information,  to  prove  completely,  that 
Porphyry's  animadversions  were  directed  against  the  contents 
of  our  present  Gospels,  and  of  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles  ;  Por- 
phyry considering  that  to  overthrow  them  w7as  to  overthrow  the 
religion.    Thus  he  objects  to  the  repetition  of  a  generation  in  St. 


1  Lardnor's  Jewish  and  Heathen  Testim.  vol.  ii.  p.  276.  s  Ibid,  p  276. 

8  Ibid.  |>   -J77.  *  Ibid.  pp.  280,  281.  BIbid.  p.  282. 

0  The  particular,  of  which  the  above  are  only  ti  few.  are  well  collected  by  Mr. 
Bryant,  p   1  ID. 


Ch.  ix.  §  9.]     Authenticity  of  the  Historical  Scriptures.         169 

Matthew's  genealogy  ;  to  Matthew's  call ;  to  the  quotation  of  a 
text  from  Isaiah,  which  is  found  in  a  psalm  ascribed  to  Asaph; 
to  the  calling  of  the  lake  of  Tiberias  a  sea ;  to  the  expression 
in  St.  Matthew,  '  the  abomination  of  desolation  ;'  to  the  varia- 
tion in  Matthew  and  Mark  upon  the  text  '  the  voice  of  one 
crying  in  the  wilderness,'  Matthew  citing  it  from  Isaias,  Mark 
from  the  Prophets  ;  to  John's  application  of  the  term  '  "Word  ;' 
to  Christ's  change  of  intention  about  going  up  to  the  feast  of 
tabernacles  (John  vii.  8) ;  to  the  judgment  denounced  by  St. 
Peter  upon  Ananias  and  Sapphira,  which  he  calls  an  impreca- 
tion of  death.1 

The  instances  here  alleged  serve,  in  some  measure,  to  show 
the  nature  of  Porphyry's  objections,  and  prove  that  Porphyry 
had  read  the  Gospels  with  that  sort  of  attention  which  a  writer 
would  employ  who  regarded  them  as  the  depositories  of  the  re- 
ligion which  he  attacked.  Besides  these  specifications,  there 
exists  in  the  writings  of  ancient  Christians  general  evidence, 
that  the  places  of  scripture  upon  which  Porphyry  had  remarked 
were  very  numerous. 

In  some  of  the  above  cited  examples,  Porphyry,  speaking  of 
St.  Matthew,  calls  him  your  evangelist ;  he  also  uses  the  term 
evangelists  in  the  plural  number.  What  was  said  of  Celsus  is 
true  likewise  of  Porphyry,  that  it  does  not  appear  that  he  con- 
sidered any  history  of  Christ,  except  these,  as  having  authority 
with  Christians. 

III.  A  third  great  writer  against  the  christian  religion  was 
the  emperor  Julian,  whose  work  was  composed  about  a  century 
after  that  of  Porphyry. 

In  various  long  extracts,  transcribed  from  this  work  by  Cyril 
and  Jerome,  it  appears2  that  Julian  noticed  by  name  Matthew 
and  Luke,  in  the  difference  between  their  genealogies  of  Christ ; 
that  he  objected  to  Matthew's  application  of  the  prophecy, 
'  Out  of  Egypt  have  I  called  my  son'  (ii.  15),  and  to  that  of '  a 
virgin  shall  conceive'  (i.  22) ;  that  he  recited  sayings  of  Christ 
and  various  passages  of  his  history,  in  the  very  words  of  the 
evangelists ;  in  particular,  that  Jesus  healed  lame  and  blind 
people,  and  exorcised  demoniacs,  in  the  villages  of  Bethsaida 
and  Bethany :  that  he  alleged  that  none  of  Christ's  disciples 


»  Jewish  u?id  Heathen  Test.  vol.  iii.  p.  166  et  seq.  a  Ibid.  vol.  iv.  p.  77  et  seq. 


170  Evidences  of  Christianity.  [Part  I. 

ascribed  to  him  the  creation  of  the  world,  except  John ;  that 
neither  Paul,  nor  Matthew,  nor  Luke,  nor  Mark,  have  dared  to 
call  Jesus,  God :  that  John  wrote  later  than  the  other  evan- 
gelists, and  at  a  time  when  a  great  number  of  men  in  the 
cities  of  Greece  and  Italy  were  converted ;  that  he  alludes  to 
the  conversion  of  Cornelius  and  of  Sergius  Paulus,  to  Peter's 
vision,  to  the  circular  letter  sent  by  the  apostles  and  elders  at 
Jerusalem,  which  are  all  recorded  in  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles  : 
by  which  quoting  of  the  four  Gospels  and  the  Acts  of  the 
Apostles,  and  by  quoting  no  other,  Julian  shows  that  these 
were  the  historical  books,  and  the  only  historical  books,  received 
by  Christians  as  of  authority,  and  as  the  authentic  memoirs  of 
Jesus  Christ,  of  his  apostles,  and  of  the  doctrines  taught  by 
them.  But  Julian's  testimony  does  something  more  than  rep- 
resent the  judgment  of  the  christian  church  in  his  time.  It 
discovers  also  his  own.  He  himself  expressly  states  the  early 
date  of  these  records :  he  calls  them  by  the  names  which  they 
now  bear.  He  all  along  supposes,  he  nowhere  attempts  to 
question,  their  genuineness. 

The  argument  in  favor  of  the  books  of  the  ]STew  Testament 
drawn  from  the  notice  taken  of  their  contents  by  the  early 
writers  against  the  religion,  is  very  considerable.  It  proves 
that  the  accounts  which  Christians  had  then,  were  the  accounts 
which  we  have  now ;  that  our  present  scriptures  were  theirs. 
It  proves,  moreover,  that  neither  Celsus  in  the  second,  Por- 
phyry in  the  third,  nor  Julian  in  the  fourth  century,  suspected 
the  authenticity  of  these  books,  or  ever  insinuated  that  Chris- 
tians were  mistaken  in  the  authors  to  whom  they  ascribed  them. 
Not  one  of  them  expressed  an  opinion  upon  this  subject  dif- 
ferent from  that  which  was  held  by  Christians.  And  when  we 
consider  how  much  it  would  have  availed  them  to  have  cast  a 
doubt  upon  tins  point,  if  they  could;  and  how  ready  they 
showed  themselves  to  be,  to  take  every  advantage  in  their 
power;  and  that  they  were  all  men  of  learning  and  inquiry; 
their  concession,  or  rather  their  suffrage,  upon  the  subject,  is 
extremely  valuable. 

In  the  case  of  Porphyry,  it  is  made  still  stronger,  by  the 
consideration  that  he  did  in  fact  support  himself  by  this  species 
of  objection,  when  lie  saw  any  room  for  it,  or  when  his  acute- 
ness  could  supply  any  pretence  for  alleging  it.     The  prophecy 


Ch.  ix.  §  10.]     Authenticity  of  the  Historical  Scriptures.      171 

of  Daniel  he  attacked  upon  this  very  ground  of  spuriousness, 
insisting  that  it  was  written  after  the  time  of  Antiochus 
Epiphanes,  and  maintains  his  charge  of  forgery  by  some,  far- 
fetched indeed,  but  very  subtle  criticisms.  Concerning  the 
writings  of  the  New  Testament,  no  trace  of  this  suspicion  is 
anywhere  to  be  found  in  him.1 


Section  X. 

Formal  catalogues  of  authentic  scriptures  were  published,  in  all 
which  our  present  sacred  histories  were  included. 

This  species  of  evidence  comes  later  than  the  rest ;  as  it  was 
not  natural  that  catalogues  of  any  particular  class  of  books 
should  be  put  forth  until  christian  writings  became  numerous ; 
or  until  some  writings  showed  themselves,  claiming  titles 
which  did  not  belong  to  them,  and  thereby  rendering  it 
necessary  to  separate  books  of  authority  from  others.  But, 
when  it  does  appear,  it  is  extremely  satisfactory  ;  the  catalogues, 
though  numerous,  and  made  in  countries  at  a  wide  distance 
from  one  another,  differing  very  little,  differing  in  nothing 
which  is  material,  and  all  containing  the  four  Gospels.  To  this 
last  article  there  is  no  exception. 

I.  In  the  writings  of  Origen  which  remain,  and  in  some 
extracts  preserved  by  Eusebius,  from  works  of  his  which  are 
now  lost,  there  are  enumerations  of  the  books  of  scripture,  in 
which  the  four  Gospels  and  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles  are  dis- 
tinctly and  honorably  specified,  and  in  which  no  books 
appear  beside  what  are  now  received.2  The  reader,  by  this 
time,  will  easily  recollect  that  the  date  of  Origen's  works  is 
a.  d.  230. 

II.  Athanasius,  about  a  century  afterwards,  delivered  a 
catalogue  of  the  books  of  the  New  Testament  in  form,  con- 


1  Michaelis'   Introduction  to  the  New  Testament,  vol.  i.  p.  43.      Marsh's  Transla- 
tion. 

5  Tnrdner's  Cred.  vol.  iii.  p.  234  et.  seq.  ;  vol.  viii.  p.  196. 


172  Evidences  of  Christianity.  [Parti. 

taining  our  scriptures  and  no  others ;  of  which  he  says,  '  In 
these  alone  the  doctrine  of  religion  is  taught ;  let  no  man  add 
to  them,  or  take  any  thing  from  them.'1 

III.  Ahout  twenty  years  after  Athanasius,  Cyril,  bishop  of 
Jerusalem,  set  forth  a  catalogue  of  the  books  of  scripture 
publicly  read  at  that  time  in  the  church  of  Jerusalem,  exactly 
the  same  as  ours,  except  that  the  '  Revelation'  is  omitted.2 

IV.  And,  fifteen  years  after  Cyril,  the  Council  of  Laodicea 
delivered  an  authoritative  catalogue  of  canonical  scripture, 
like  Cyril's,  the  same  as  ours,  with  the  omission  of  the  '  Reve- 
lation.' 

V.  Catalogues  now  became  frequent.  Within  thirty  years 
after  the  last  date,  that  is,  from  the  year  363  to  near  the 
conclusion  of  the  fourth  century,  we  have  catalogues  by 
Epiphanius,3  by  Gregory  Nazianzen,4  by  Philaster  bishop  of 
Brescia  in  Italy,5  by  Amphilochius  bishop  of  Iconium,  all,  as 
they  are  sometimes  called,  clean  catalogues  (that  is,  they  admit 
no  books  into  the  number  beside  what  we  now  receive), 
and  all,  for  every  purpose  of  historic  evidence,  the  same  as 
ours.6  <■ 

VI.  Within  the  same  period,  Jerome,  the  most  learned 
christian  writer  of  his  age,  delivered  a  catalogue  of  the  books 
of  the  New  Testament,  recognizing  every  book  now  received, 
with  the  intimation  of  a  doubt  concerning  the  Epistle  to  the 
Hebrews  alone,  and  taking  not  the  least  notice  of  any  book 
which  is  not  now  received." 

VII.  Contemporary  with  Jerome,  who  lived  in  Palestine, 
was  St.  Augustine  in  Africa,  who  published  likewise  a  cata- 
logue, without  joining  to  the  scriptures,  as  books  of  authority, 
any  other  ecclesiastical  writing  whatever,  and  without  omitting 
one  which  wre  at  this  day  acknowledge.8 

VIII.  And  witli  these  concurs  another  contemporary 
writer,  Rusen,  presbyter  of  Aquileia,  whose  catalogue,  like 
theirs,    is   perfect   and    unmixed,    and    concludes    with    these 


1  Lard.  Cred.  vol.  viii.  p.  223.  *  Ibid.  vol.  viii.  p.  270.  *  Ibid.  p.  3G8. 

4  Ibid.  vol.  ix.  p.  132.  "  Ibid.  p.  373. 

•  Epiphanius  omits  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles.  This  most  have  been  an  acciden- 
tal mistake,  either  in  him,  or  in  some  copyist  of  his  work  ;  for  he  elsewhere  ex- 
pressly refers  to  this  honk,  and  ascribes  it  to  Luke. 

7  Ibid.  vol.  x.  p.  77.  s  ibid.  p.  213. 


Ch. ix.  §  11.]  Authenticity  of  the  Historical  Scriptures.  173 

remarkable  words  :  '  These  are  the  volumes  which  the  Fathers 
have  included  in  the  canon,  and  out  of  which  they  would  have 
us  prove  the  doctrine  of  our  faith.' l 


Section  XI. 

These  propositions  cannot  be  predicated  of  any  of  those  boohs 
which  are  commonly  called  apocryphal  books  of  the  New 
Testament. 

I  do  not  know  that  the  objection  taken  from  apocryphal 
writings  is  at  present  much  relied  upon  by  scholars.  But 
there  are  many,  who,  hearing  that  various  gospels  existed  in 
ancient  times  under  the  names  of  the  apostles,  may  have  taken 
up  a  notion,  that  the  selection  of  our  present  gospels  from  the 
rest,  was  rather  an  arbitrary  or  accidental  choice,  than  founded 
in  any  clear  and  certain  cause  of  preference.  To  these  it  may 
be  very  useful  to  know  the  truth  of  the  case.  I  observe  there- 
fore, 

I.  That,  beside  our  gospels  and  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles,  no 
christian  history,  claiming  to  be  written  by  an  apostle  or  apos- 
tolical man,  is  quoted  within  three  hundred  years  after  the 
birth  of  Christ,  by  any  writer  now  extant,  or  known ;  or,  if 
quoted,  is  not  quoted  without  marks  of  censure  and  rejection. 

I  have  not  advanced  this  assertion  without  inquiry ;  and  I 
doubt  not,  but  that  the  passages  cited  by  Mr.  Jones  and  Dr. 
Lardner,  under  the  several  titles  which  the  apocryphal  books 
bear  ;  or  a  reference  to  the  places  where  they  are  mentioned, 
as  collected  in  a  very  accurate  table,  published  in  the  year 
1773  by  the  Eev.  J.  Atkinson  ;  will  make  out  the  truth  of  the 
proposition  to  the  satisfaction  of  every  fair  and  competent  judg- 
ment. If  there  be  any  book  which  may  seem  to  form  an  ex- 
ception to  the  observation,  it  is  a  Hebrew  Gospel,  which  was 
circulated  under  the  various  titles  of  the  Gospel  according  to  the 
Hebrews,  the  Gospel  of  the  Nazarenes,  of  the  Ebionites,  some- 
times called  of  the  Twelve,  by  some  ascribed  to  St.  Matthew. 
This  Gospel  is  once,  and  only  once,  cited  by  Clement  Alexan- 


'  Lard.  Cred.  vol.  x.  p.  187. 


171  Evidences  of  Christianity.  [Parti. 

drinus,  who  lived,  the  reader  will  remember,  in  the  latter  part 
of  the  second  century,  and  which  same  Clement  quotes  one 
or  other  of  our  four  Gospels  in  almost  every  page  of  his  work. 
It  is  also  twice  mentioned  by  Origen,  a.d.  230 ;  and  both  times 
with  marks  of  diminution  and  discredit.  And  this  is  the 
ground  upon  which  the  exception  stands.  But  what  is  still 
more  material  to  observe  is,  that  this  Gospel,  in  the  main, 
agreed  with  our  present  Gospel  of  St.  Matthew.1 

ISTow  if,  with  this  account  of  the  apocryphal  Gospels,  we 
compare  what  we  have  read  concerning  the  canonical  scriptures 
in  the  preceding  sections ;  or  even  recollect  that  general,  but 
well-founded,  assertion  of  Dr.  Lardner,  '  That  in  the  remaining 
works  of  Irenreus,  Clement  of  Alexandria,  and  Tertullian,  who 
all  lived  in  the  two  first  centuries,  there  are  more  and  larger 
quotations  of  the  small  volume  of  the  ISTew  Testament  than  of 
all  the  works  of  Cicero,  by  writers  of  all  characters,  for  several 
ages;'2  and  if  to  this  we  add,  that,  notwithstanding  the  loss  of 
many  works  of  the  primitive  times  of  Christianity,  we  have, 
within  the  above-mentioned  period,  the  remains  of  christian 
writers,  who  lived  in  Palestine,  Syria,  Asia  Minor,  Egypt,  the 
part  of  Africa  that  used  the  Latin  tongue,  in  Crete,  Greece, 
Italy  and  Gaul,  in  all  which  remains  references  are  found  to 
our  evangelists  ;  I  apprehend,  that  we  shall  perceive  a  clear  and 
broad  line  of  division,  between  those  writings,  and  all  others 
pretending  to  similar  authority. 

II.  But  besides  certain  histories  which  assumed  the  names 
of  Apostles,  and  which  were  forgeries  properly  so  called,  there 
were  some  other  christian  writings,  in  the  whole  or  in  part  of 
an  historical  nature,  which,  though  not  forgeries,  are  denomi- 
nated apocryphal,  as  being  of  uncertain  or  of  no  authority. 

Of  this  second  class  of  writings  I  have  found  only  two  which 
are  noticed  by  any  author  of  the  three  first  centuries,  without 
<'\  press  terms  of  condemnation  ;  and  these  are,  the  one,  a  book 
entitled  The  Preaching  of  J \  t<  i\  quoted  repeatedly  by  Clement 
Alexandrinus,  a.d.  196  ;  the  other,  a  book  entitled  The  Reve- 


'  In  applying  to  this  Gospel,  what  Jerome  in  tin:  latter  end  of  the  fourth  cen- 
tury lias  mentioned  of  a  Hebrew  Gospel,  I  think  it  probable  that  we  sometimes 
confound  it  with  a  Hebrew  copy  of  St.  Matthew's  Gospel,  whether  an  original  or 
version,  which  was  then  extant. 

"-  r.-inl    Greet,  vol.  xii.  p.  53. 


Oh.  ix.  §  11.]  Authenticity  of  the  Historical  Scriptures.       175 

lotion  of  Peter,  upon  which  the  above-mentioned  Clement 
Alexandrinus  is  said,  by  Eusebins,  to  have  written  notes;  and 
which  is  twice  cited  in  a  work  still  extant,  ascribed  to  the  same 
author. 

I  conceive,  therefore,  that  the  proposition  we  have  before 
advanced,  even  after  it  hath  been  subjected  to  every  exception, 
of  every  kind,  that  can  be  alleged,  separates,  by  a  wide  in- 
terval, our  historical  scriptures  from  all  other  writings  which 
profess  to  give  an  account  of  the  same  subject. 

"We  may  be  permitted,  however,  to  add, 

1.  That  there  is  no  evidence  that  any  spurious  or  apocryphal 
books  whatever  existed  in  the  first  century  of  the  Christian 
era  :  in  which  century  all  our  historical  books  are  proved  to 
have  been  extant.  '  There  are  no  quotations  of  any  such  books 
in  the  apostolical  fathers,  by  whom  I  mean  Barnabas,  Clement 
of  Rome,  Hernias,  Ignatius  and  Polycarp,  whose  writings  reach 
from  about  the  year  of  our  Lord  TO,  to  the  year  108  ;'  (and 
some  of  whom  have  quoted  each  and  every  one  of  our  histo- 
rical scriptures).  '  I  say  this,'  adds  Dr.  Lardner,  '  because  I 
think  it  has  been  proved.' l 

2.  These  apocryphal  writings  were  not  read  in  the  churches 
of  Christians  ; 

3.  Were  not  admitted  into  their  volume  ; 

4.  Do  not  appear  in  their  catalogues  ; 

5.  Were  not  noticed  by  their  adversaries  ; 

6.  Were  not  alleged  by  different  parties,  as  of  authority  in 
their  controversies  ; 

7.  Were  not  the  subjects,  amongst  them,  of  commentaries, 
versions,  collations,  expositions. 

Finally  ;  beside  the  silence  of  three  centuries,  or  evidence, 
within  that  time,  of  their  rejection,  they  were,  with  a  consent 
nearly  universal,  reprobated  by  christian  writers  of  succeeding 
ages. 

Although  it  be  made  out  by  these  observations,  that  the 
books  in  question  never  obtained  any  degree  of  credit  and 
notoriety,  which  can  place  them  in  competition  with  our  scrip- 
tures, yet  it  appears  from  the  writings  of  the  fourth  century, 
that  many  such  existed  in  that  century,  and  in  the  century 


i  Lird.  Cred.  vol.  xii.  p.  158. 


176  Evidences  of  Christianity.  [Part  I. 

preceding  it.  It  may  be  difficult  at  this  distance  of  time  to 
account  for  their  origin.  Perhaps  the  most  probable  explica- 
tion is,  that  they  were  in  general  composed  with  a  design  of 
making  a  profit  by  the  sale.  Whatever  treated  of  the  subject 
would  find  purchasers.  It  was  an  advantage  taken  of  the  pious 
curiosity  of  unlearned  Christians.  With  a  view  to  the  same 
purpose,  they  were  many  of  them  adapted  to  the  particular 
opinions  of  particular  sects,  which  would  naturally  promote 
their  circulation  amongst  the  favorers  of  those  opinions. 
After  all,  they  were  probably  much  more  obscure  than  we 
imagine.  Except  the  Gospel  according  to  the  Hebrews,  there 
is  none  of  which  we  hear  more  than  the  Gospel  of  the 
Egyptians  ;  yet  there  is  good  reason  to  believe  that  Clement,  a 
presbyter  of  Alexandria  in  Egypt,  a.  d.  184,  and  a  man  of 
almost  universal  reading,  had  never  seen  it.1  A  Gospel  ac- 
cording to  Peter,  was  another  of  the  most  ancient  books  of  this 
kind  ;  yet  Serapion,  Bishop  of  Antioch,  a.  d.  200,  had  not  read 
it,  when  he  heard  of  such  a  book  being  in  the  hands  of  the 
Christians  of  Rhossus  in  Cilicia  ;  and  speaks  of  obtaining  a 
sight  of  this  gospel  from  some  sectaries  who  used  it.2  Even 
of  the  Gospel  of  the  Hebrews,  which  confessedly  stands  at  the 
head  of  the  catalogue,  Jerome,  at  the  end  of  the  fourth  century, 
was  glad  to  procure  a  copy  by  the  favor  of  the  Nazarenes  of 
Berea.  Nothing  of  this  sort  ever  happened,  or  could  have 
happened,  concerning  our  Gospels. 

One  thing  is  observable  of  all  the  apocryphal  christian  writ- 
ings, viz.,  that  they  proceed  upon  the  same  fundamental  history 
of  Christ  and  his  apostles,  as  that  which  is  disclosed  in  our 
scriptures.  The  mission  of  Christ,  his  power  of  working 
miracles,  his  communication  of  that  power  to  the  apostles,  his 
passion,  death,  and  resurrection,  are  assumed  or  asserted  by 
every  one  of  them.  The  names  under  which  some  of  them 
came  forth,  are  the  names  of  men  of  eminence  in  our  histories. 
What  those  books  give  are  not  contradictions,  but  unauthorized 
additions.  The  principal  facts  are  supposed,  the  principal 
agents  the  same;  which  shows  that  these  points  were  too  much 
fixed  to  be  altered  or  disputed. 

If  there  be  any  book  of  this  description,  which  appears  to 

1  Jones,  vol.  i.  p.  243.  3  Lard.  Cred.  vol.  ii.  p.  557. 


Chap,  x.]  Recapitulation.  177 

have  imposed  upon  some  considerable  number  of  learned  Chris- 
tians, it  is  the  Sybilline  oracles;  but  when  we  reflect  upon  the 
circumstances  which  facilitated  that  imposture,  we  shall  cease 
to  wonder  either  at  the  attempt  or  its  success.  It  was  at  that 
time  universally  understood,  that  such  a  prophetic  writing  ex- 
isted. Its  contents  were  kept  secret.  This  situation  afforded  to 
some  one  a  hint,  as  well  as  an  opportunity,  to  give  out  a  Writing 
under  this  name,  favorable  to  the  already  established  persuasion 
of  Christians,  and  which  writing,  by  the  aid  and  recommenda- 
tion of  these  circumstances,  would  in  some  degree,  it  is  proba- 
ble, be  received.  Of  the  ancient  forgery  we  know  but  little  ; 
what  is  now  produced  could  not,  in  my  opinion,  have  imposed 
upon  any  one.  It  is  nothing  else  than  the  gospel  history,  woven 
into  verse  ;  perhaps  was  at  first,  rather  a  fiction,  than  a  forgery  ; 
an  exercise  of  ingenuity  more  than  an  attempt  to  deceive. 


CHAPTER    X. 

Recapitulation . 


THE  reader  will  now  be  pleased  to  recollect,  that  the  two 
points  which  form  the  subject  of  our  present  discussion, 
are,  first,  that  the  founder  of  Christianity,  his  associates,  and 
immediate  followers,  passed  their  lives  in  labors,  dangers,  and 
sufferings ;  secondly,  that  they  did  so,  in  attestation  of  the 
miraculous  history  recorded  in  our  scriptures,  and  solely  in 
consequence  of  their  belief  of  the  truth  of  that  history. 

The  argument  by  which  these  two  propositions  have  been 
maintained  by  us,  stands  thus : 

No  historical  fact,  I  apprehend,  is  more  certain,  than  that  the 
original  propagators  of  Christianity  voluntarily  subjected  them- 
selves to  lives  of  fatigue,  danger,  and  suffering,  in  the  prosecu- 
tion of  their  undertaking.  The  nature  of  the  undertaking ; 
the  character  of  .the  persons  employed  in  it ;  the  opposition  of 
their  tenets  to  the  fixed  opinions  and  expectations  of  the  country, 
in  which  they  first  advanced  them ;  their  undissembled  condem- 
nation of  the  religion  of  all  other  countries ;  their  total  want  of 
power,  authority,  or  force,  render  it  in  the  highest  degree  pro- 
bable that  this  must  have  been  the  case.     The  probability  is 

12 


178  Evidences  of  Christianity.  [Part  I. 

increased,  by  what  we  know  of  the  fate  of  the  founder  of  the 
institution,  who  was  put  to  death  for  his  attempt ;  and  by  what 
we  also  know  of  the  cruel  treatment  of  the  converts  to  the  in- 
stitution, within  thirty  years  after  its  commencement :  both 
which  points  are  attested  by  heathen  writers,  and,  being  once 
admitted,  leave  it  very  incredible  that  the  primitive  emissaries 
of  the  religion,  who  exercised  their  ministry,  first,  amongst  the 
people  who  had  destroyed  their  master,  and  afterwards,  amongst 
those  who  persecuted  their  converts,  should  themselves  escape 
with  impunity,  or  pursue  their  purpose  in  ease  and  safety. 
This  probability,  thus  sustained  by  foreign  testimony,  is  ad- 
vanced, I  think,  to  historical  certainty,  by  the  evidence  of  our 
own  books  ;  by  the  accounts  of  a  writer  who  was  the  companion 
of  the  persons  whose  sufferings  he  relates ;  by  the  letters  of  the 
persons  themselves  ;  by  predictions  of  persecutions  ascribed  to 
the  founder  of  the  religion,  which  predictions  would  not  have 
been  inserted  in  his  history,  much  less  have  been  studiously 
dwelt  upon,  if  they  had  not  accorded  with  the  event,  and  which, 
even  if  falsely  ascribed  to  him,  could  only  have  been  so  ascribed 
because  the  event  suggested  them  :  lastly,  by  incessant  exhor- 
tations to  fortitude  and  patience,  and  by  an  earnestness,  repe- 
tition, and  urgency  upon  the  subject,  which  were  unlikely  to 
have  appeared,  if  there  had  not  been,  at  the  time,  some  extra- 
ordinary call  for  the  exercise  of  these  virtues. 

It  is  made  out  also,  I  think  with  sufficient  evidence,  that 
both  the  teachers  and  converts  of  the  religion,  in  consequence 
of  their  new  profession,  took  up  a  new  course  of  life  and  be- 
havior. 

The  next  question  is,  what  they  did  this  for.  That  it  -was,  for 
a  miraculous  story  of  some  kind  or  other,  is  to  mv  apprehension 
extremely  manifest ;  because,  as  to  the  fundamental  article,  the 
designation  of  the  person,  viz.,  that  this  particular  person,  Jesus 
of  Nazareth,  ought  to  be  received  as  the  Messiah,  or  as  a  mes- 
senger from  God,  they  neither  had,  nor  could  have,  any  thing  but 
miracles  to  stand  upon.  That  the  exertions  and  sufferings  of 
the  apostles  were  for  the  story  which  we  have  now,  is  proved  by 
the  consideration  that  this  story  is  transmitted  to  us  by  two  of 
their  own  number,  and  by  two  others  personally  connected  with 
them;  that  the  particularity  of  the  narrative  proves,  that  the 
writers  claimed  to  possess  circumstantial  information,  that  from 


Chap,  x.]  Recapitulation.  179 

their  situation  they  had  full  opportunity  of  acquiring  such  infor- 
mation, that  they  certainly,  at  least,  knew  what  their  colleagues, 
their  companions,  their  masters  taught;  that  each  of  these  hooks 
contains  enough  to  prove  the  truth  of  the  religion  ;  that,  if  any 
one  of  them  therefore  be  genuine,  it  is  sufficient;  that  the  genu- 
ineness however  of  all  of  them  is  made  out,  as  well  by  the  general 
arguments  which  evince  the  genuineness  of  the  most  undisputed 
remains  of  antiquity,  as  also  by  peculiar  specific  proofs,  viz., 
by  citations  from  them  in  writings  belonging  to  a  period  im- 
mediately contiguous  to  that  in  which  they  were  published ; 
by  the  distinguished  regard  paid  by  early  Christians  to  the 
authority  of  these  books  (which  regard  was  manifested  by 
their  collecting  of  them  into  a  volume,  appropriating  to  that 
volume  titles  of  peculiar  respect,  translating  them  into  various 
languages,  digesting  them  into  harmonies,  writing  commentaries 
upon  them,  and,  still  more  conspicuously,  by  the  reading  of 
them  in  their  public  assemblies  in  all  parts  of  the  world):  by 
an  universal  agreement  with  respect  to  these  books,  whilst 
doubts  were  entertained  concerning  some  others ;  by  contending 
sects  appealing  to  them ;  by  the  early  adversaries  of  the  reli- 
gion not  disputing  their  genuineness,  but,  on  the  contrary, 
treating  them  as  the  depositories  of  the  history  upon  which  the 
religion  was  founded  ;  by  many  formal  catalogues  of  these,  as 
of  certain  and  authoritative  writings,  published  in  different  and 
distant  parts  of  the  christian  world  ;  lastly,  by  the  absence  or 
defect  of  the  above-cited  topics  of  evidence,  when  applied  to 
any  other  histories  of  the  same  subject. 

These  are  strong  arguments  to  prove,  that  the  books  actually 
proceeded  from  the  authors  whose  names  they  bear  (and  have 
always  borne,  for  there  is  not  a  particle  of  evidence  to  show 
that  they  ever  went  under  any  other);  but  the  strict  genuine- 
ness of  the  books  is  perhaps  more  than  is  necessary  to  the  sup- 
port of  our  proposition.  For  even  supposing  that,  by  reason  of 
the  silence  of  antiquity,  or  the  loss  of  records,  we  knew  not 
who  were  the  writers  of  the  four  Gospels,  yet  the  fact,  that 
they  were  received  as  authentic  accounts  of  the  transaction 
upon  which  the  religion  rested,  and  were  received  as  such  by 
Christians  at  or  near  the  age  of  the  apostles,  by  those  whom 
the  apostles  had  taught,  and  by  societies  which  the  apostles 
founded  ;   this   fact,  I  say.  connected  with  the   consideration 


180  Evidences  of  Christianity.  [Part  I. 

that  they  are  corroborative  of  each  other's  testimony,  and  that 
they  are  farther  corroborated  by  another  contemporary  history, 
taking  np  the  history  where  they  had  left  it,  and,  in  a  narra- 
tive built  upon  that  story,  accounting  for  the  rise  and  produc- 
tion of  changes  in  the  world,  the  effects  of  which  subsist  at 
this  day  ;  connected,  moreover,  with  the  confirmation  which 
they  receive,  from  letters  written  by  the  apostles  themselves, 
which  both  assume  the  same  general  story,  and,  as  often  as 
occasions  lead  them  to  do  so,  allude  to  particular  parts  of  it; 
and  connected  also  with  the  reflection,  that  if  the  apostles  de- 
livered any  different  story,  it  is  lost  (the  present  and  no  other 
being  referred  to  by  a  series  of  christian  writers,  down  from 
their  age  to  our  own ;  being  likewise  recognized  in  a  variety  of 
institutions,  which  prevailed,  early  and  universally,  amongst  the 
disciples  of  the  religion);  and  that  so  great  a  change,  as  the 
oblivion  of  one  story  and  the  substitution  of  another,  under 
such  circumstances,  could  not  have  taken  place:  this  evidence 
would  be  deemed,  I  apprehend,  sufficient  to  prove  concerning 
these  books,  that,  whoever  were  the  authors  of  them,  they  ex- 
hibit the  story  which  the  apostles  told,  and  for  which,  conse- 
quently, they  acted,  and  they  suffered. 

If  it  be  so,  the  religion  must  be  true.  These  men  could  not 
be  deceivers.  By  only  not  bearing  testimony,  they  might  have 
avoided  all  their  sufferings,  and  have  lived  quietly.  Would  men 
in  such  circumstances  pretend  to  have  seen  what  they  never 
saw ;  assert  facts  which  they  had  no  knowledge  of ;  go  about 
lying,  to  teach  virtue ;  and,  though  not  only  convinced  of 
Christ's  being  an  impostor,  but  having  seen  the  success  of  his 
imposture  in  his  crucifixion,  yet  persist  in  carrying  it  on ;  and 
so  persist,  as  to  bring  upon  themselves,  for  nothing,  and  with  a 
full  knowledge  of  the  consequence,  enmity  and  hatred,  danger 
and  death? 


Pr 


op.  2,  Ch.  L]  Alleged  Evidence  for  the  Miracles.  181 

OF  THE 

DIRECT  HISTORICAL  EVIDENCE  OF  CHRISTIANITY. 


PROPOSITION    II. 

CHAPTER  I. 

Our  First  Proposition  was,  '  That  there  is  satsifactory  evidence, 
that  many,  pretending  to  be  original  witnesses  of  the  chris- 
tian miracles,  p>assed  their  lives  in  labors,  dangers,  and 
sufferings,  voluntarily  undertaken  and  undergone,  in  attesta- 
tion of  the  accounts  which  they  delivered,  and  solely  in  con- 
sequence of  their  belief  of  the  truth  of  those  accounts  ;  and 
that  they  also  submitted,  from  the  same  motives,  to  new  rules 
of  conduct? 

Our  Second  Proposition,  and  which  now  remains  to  be  treated 
of,  is,  '  That  there  is  not  satisfactory  evidence,  that  persons 
pretending  to  be  original  witnesses  of  any  other  similar 
miracles,  have  acted  in  the  same  manner,  in  attestation  of 
the  accounts  which  they  delivered,  and  solely  in  consequence 
of  their  belief  of  the  truth  of  those  accounts? 

I  ENTER  upon  this  part  of  my  argument,  by  declaring  how 
far  my  belief  in  miraculous  accounts  goes.  If  the  re- 
formers in  the  time  of  Wickliff,  or  of  Luther ;  or  those  of 
England,  in  the  time  of  Henry  the  Eighth,  or  of  Queen  Mary  ; 
or  the  founders  of  our  religious  sects  since,  such  as  were  Mr. 
Whitfield  and  Mr.  Wesley  in  our  own  times ;  had  undergone 
the  life  of  toil  and  exertion,  of  danger  and  sufferings,  which  we 
know  that  many  of  them  did  undergo,  for  a  miraculous  story  ; 
that  is  to  say,  if  they  had  founded  their  public  ministry  upon 
the  allegation  of  miracles  wrought  within  their  own  knowledge, 
and  upon  narratives  which  could  not  be  resolved  into  delusion 
or  mistake ;  and  if  it  had  appeared,  that  their  conduct  really 
had  its  origin  in  these  accounts,  I  should  have  believed  them. 
Or,  to  borrow  an  instance  which  will  be  familiar  to  every  one 
of  my  readers,  if  the  late  Mr.  Howard  had  undertaken  his 
labors  and  journeys  in  attestation,  and  in  consequence  of  a 


182  Evidences  of  Christianity.  [Part  I. 

clear  and  sensible  miracle,  I  should  have  believed  him  also. 
Or,  to  represent  the  same  thing  under  a  third  supposition ;  if 
Socrates  had  professed  to  perform  public  miracles  at  Athens  ; 
if  the  friends  of  Socrates,  Phsedo,  Cebes,  Crito,  and  Simmias, 
together  with  Plato,  and  many  of  his  followers,  relying  upon 
the  attestation  which  these  miracles  afforded  to  his  pretensions, 
had,  at  the  hazard  of  their  lives,  and  the  certain  expense  of 
their  ease  and  tranquillity,  gone  about  Greece,  after  his  death, 
to  publish  and  propagate  his  doctrines ;  and  if  these  things 
had  come  to  our  knowledge,  in  the  same  way  as  that  in  which 
the  life  of  Socrates  is  now  transmitted  to  us,  through  the  hands 

7  O 

of  his  companions  and  disciples,  that  is,  by  writings  received 
without  doubt  as  theirs,  from  the  age  in  which  they  were  pub- 
lished to  the  present,  I  should  have  believed  this  likewise. 
And  my  belief  would,  in  each  case,  be  much  strengthened,  if 
the  subject  of  the  mission  were  of  importance  to  the  conduct 
and  happiness  of  human  life  ;  if  it  testified  any  thing  which  it 
behooved  mankind  to  know  from  such  authority  ;  if  the  nature 
of  what  it  delivered,  required  the  sort  of  proof  which  it  alleged  ; 
if  the  occasion  was  adequate  to  the  interposition,  the  tnd 
worthy  of  the  means.  In  the  last  case  ny  faith  would  be 
much  confirmed,  if  the  effects  of  the  transaction  remained ; 
more  especially,  if  a  change  had  been  wrought,  at  the  time,  in 
the  opinion  and  conduct  of  such  numbers,  as  to  lay  the  foun- 
dation of  an  institution,  and  of  a  system  of  doctrines,  which 
had  since  overspread  the  greatest  part  of  the  civilized  world. 
I  should  have  believed,  I  say,  the  "testimony,  in  these  cases ; 
yet  none  of  them  do  more  than  come  up  to  the  apostolic 
history. 

If  any  one  choose  to  call  assent  to  its  evidence  credulity, 
it  is  at  least  incumbent  upon  him  to  produce  examples  in  winch 
the  same  evidence  hath  turned  out  to  be  fallacious.  And  this 
contains  the  precise  question  which  we  are  now  to  agitate. 

In  stating  the  comparison  between  our  evidence,  and  what 
our  adversaries  may  bring  into  competition  with  ours,  we  will 
divide  the  distinctions  which  we  wish  to  propose  into  two  kinds, 
those  which  relate  to  the  proof,  and  those  which  relate  to  the 
miracles.  Under  the  former  head  we  may  lay  out  of  the 
case, 

I.  Such  accounts  of  supernatural  events  as  are  found  only 


Prop.  2,  Ch.  i.]    Alleged  Evidence  for  the  Miracles.  183 

in  histories  by  some  ages  posterior  to  the  transaction,  and  of 
which  it  is  evident  that  the  historian  could  know  little  more 
than  his  reader.  Ours  is  contemporary  history.  This  differ- 
ence alone  removes  out  of  our  way  the  miraculous  history  of 
Pythagoras,  who  lived  live  hundred  years  before  the  christian 
era,  written  by  Porphyry  and  Jainblicus,  who  lived  three  hun- 
dred years  after  that  era;  the  prodigies  of  Livy's  history;  the 
fables  of  the  heroic  ages ;  the  whole  of  the  Greek  and  Bom  an,  as 
well  as  of  the  Gothic  mythology  ;  a  great  part  of  the  legendary 
history  of  Popish  saints,  the  very  best  attested  of  which  is 
extracted  from  the  certificates  that  are  exhibited  during  the 
process  of  their  canonization,  a  ceremony  which  seldom  takes 
place  till  a  century  after  their  deaths.  It  applies  also  with 
considerable  force  to  the  miracles  of  ApolloniusTyane us,  which 
are  contained  in  a  solitary  history  of  his  life,  published  by 
Philostratus,  above  a  hundred  years  after  his  death  ;  and  in 
which,  whether  Philostratus  had  any  prior  account  to  guide 
him,  depends  upon  his  single  unsupported  assertion.  Also  to 
some  of  the  miracles  of  the  third  century,  especially  to  one 
extraordinary  instance,  the  account  of  Gregory,  bishop  of  Neo- 
cesarea,  called  Thaumaturgus,  delivered  in  the  writings  of 
Gregory  of  Nyssen,  who  lived  one  hundred  and  thirty  years 
after  the  subject  of  his  panegyric. 

The  value  of  this  circumstance  is  shown  to  have  been 
accurately  exemplified  in  the  history  of  Ignatius  Loyola,  the 
founder  of  the  order  of  Jesuits.1  His  life,  written  by  a  com- 
panion of  his,  and  by  one  of  the  order,  was  published  about 
fifteen  years  after  his  death.  In  which  life,  the  author,  so  far 
from  ascribing  any  miracles  to  Ignatius,  industriously  states 
the  reasons  why  he  was  not  invested  with  any  such  power. 
The  life  was  republished  fifteen  years  afterwards,  with  the 
addition  of  many  circumstances,  which  were  the  fruit,  the 
author  says,  of  further  inquiry,  and  of  diligent  examination  ; 
but  still  with  a  total  silence  about  miracles.  When  Ignatius 
had  been  dead  near  sixty  years,  the  Jesuits,  conceiving  a  wish 
to  have  the  founder  of  their  order  placed  in  the  Roman 
calendar,  began,  as  it  should  seem,  for  the  first  time,  to  attri- 
bute to  him  a  catalogue  of  miracles,  which  could  not  then  be 


1  Douglas's  Criterion  of  Miracles,  p.  74. 


184  Evidences  of  Christianity.  [Part  I. 

distinctly  disproved  ;  and  which  there  was,  in  those  who  gov- 
erned the  church,  a  strong  disposition  to  admit  upon  the  slen- 
derest proofs. 

II.  We  may  lay  out  of  the  case,  accounts  published  in  one 
country,  of  what  passed  in  a  distant  country,  without  any 
proof  that  such  accounts  were  known  or  received  at  home.  In 
the  case  of  Christianity,  Judea,  which  was  the  scene  of  the 
transaction,  was  the  centre  of  the  mission.  The  story  was 
published  in  the  place  in  which  it  was  acted.  The  church  of 
Christ  was  first  planted  at  Jerusalem  itself.  With  that  church 
others  corresponded.  From  thence  the  primitive  teachers  of 
the  institution  went  forth ;  thither  they  assembled.  The 
church  of  Jerusalem,  and  the  several  churches  of  Judea,  sub- 
sisted from  the  beginning,  and  for  many  ages  ; *  received  also 
the  same  books,  and  the  same  accounts,  as  other  churches 
did. 

This  distinction  disposes,  amongst  others,  of  the  above-men- 
tioned miracles  of  Apollonius  Tyaneus,  most  of  which  are 
related  to  have  been  performed  in  India,  no  evidence  remaining 
that  either  the  miracles  ascribed  to  him,  or  the  histo|y  of 
those  miracles  were  ever  heard  of  in  India.  Those  of  Francis 
Xavier,  the  Indian  missionary,  with  many  others  of  the  Romish 
breviary,  are  liable  to  the  same  objections,  viz.,  that  the  ac- 
counts of  them  were  published  at  a  vast  distance  from  the  sup- 
posed scene  of  the  wonders.2 

III.  We  lay  out  of  the  case  transient  rumors.  Upon  the 
first  publication  of  an  extraordinary  account,  or  even  of  an 
article  of  ordinary  intelligence,  no  one,  who  is  not  personally 
acquainted  with  the  transaction,  can  know  whether  it  be  true 
or  false,  because  any  man  may  publish  any  story.  It  is  in 
the  future  confirmation,  or  contradiction,  of  the  account ;  in 
its  permanency,  or  its  disappearance  ;  its  dying  away  into 
silence,  or  its  increasing  in  notoriety  ;  its  being  followed  up  by 
subsequent  accounts,  and  being  repeated  in  different  and  inde- 
pendent accounts,  that  solid  truth  is  distinguished  from  fugitive 


1  The  succession  of  many  eminent  bishops  of  Jerusalem,  in  the  three  first  cen- 
turies, is  distinctly  preserved,  as  Alexander,  a.  d.  212,  who  succeeded  Narcissus, 
then  116  years  old. 

3  Doug.  Chit.  p.  84. 


Prop.  2,  Ch.  i.]     Alleged  Evidence  for  the  Miracles.  ]  85 

lies.  This  distinction  is  altogether  on  the  side  of  Chris- 
tianity. The  story  did  not  drop.  On  the  contrary,  it  was 
succeeded  by  a  train  of  action  and  events  dependent  upon  it. 
The  accounts,  which  we  have  in  our  hands,  were  composed 
after  the  first  reports  must  have  subsided.  They  were  fol- 
lowed by  a  train  of  writings  upon  the  subject.  The  historical 
testimonies  of  the  transaction  were  many  and  various,  and  con- 
nected with  letters,  discourses,  controversies,  apologies,  succes- 
sively produced  by  the  same  transaction. 

TV.  We  may  lay  out  of  the  case  what  I  call  naked  history. 
It  has  been  said,  that  if  the  prodigies  of  the  Jewish  history 
had  been  found  only  in  fragments  of  Manetho,  or  Berosus.  we 
should  have  paid  no  regard  to  them:  and  I  am  willing  to 
admit  this.  If  we  knew  nothing  of  the  fact,  but  from  the 
fragment;  if  we  possessed  no  proof  that  these  accounts  had 
been  credited  and  acted  upon,  from  times,  probably,  as  ancient 
as  the  accounts  themselves;  if  we  had  no  visible  effects  con- 
nected with  the  history,  no  subsequent  or  collateral  testimony 
to  confirm  it ;  under  these  circumstances,  I  think  that  it 
would  be  undeserving  of  credit.  But  this  certainly  is  not  our 
case.  In  appreciating  the  evidence  of  Christianity,  the  books 
are  to  be  combined  with  the  institution  ;  with  the  prevalency 
of  the  religion  at  this  day ;  with  the  time  and  place  of  its 
origin,  which  are  acknowledged  points;  with  the  circumstances 
of  its  rise  and  progress,  as  collected  from  external  history  ; 
writh  the  fact  of  our  present  books  being  received  by  the 
votaries  of  the  institution  from  the  beginning;  with  that  of 
other  books  coming  after  these,  filled  with  accounts  of  effects 
and  consequences  resulting  from  the  transaction,  or  referring 
to  the  transaction,  or  built  upon  it;  lastly,  with  the  con- 
sideration of  the  number  and  variety  of  the  books  themselves, 
the  different  writers  from  which  they  proceed,  the  different 
views  with  which  they  were  written,  so  disagreeing  as  to  repel 
the  suspicion  of  confederacy,  so  agreeing  as  to  show  that  they 
were  founded  in  a  common  original,  i.  e.,  in  a  story  sub- 
stantially the  same.  Whether  this  proof  be  satisfactory  or  not, 
it  is  properly  a  cumulation  of  evidence,  by  no  means  a  naked 
or  solitary  record. 

Y.  A  mark  of  historical  truth,  although  only  a  certain  way, 
and   to   a   certain   degree,  is  particularity,  in  names,  dates, 


186  Evidences  of  Christianity.  [Part  I. 

places,  circumstances,  and  in  the  order  of  events  preceding  or 
following  the  transaction :  of  which  kind,  for  instance,  is  the 
particularity  in  the  description  of  St.  Paul's  voyage  and  ship- 
wreck, in  the  27th  chapter  of  the  Acts,  which  no  man,  I 
think,  can  read  without  being  convinced  that  the  writer  was 
there ;  and  also  in  the  account  of  the  cure  and  examination  of 
the  blind  man,  in  the  9th  chapter  of  St.  John's  Gospel,  which 
bears  every  mark  of  personal  knowledge  on  the  part  of  the 
historian.1  I  do  not  deny  that  fiction  has  often  the  particu- 
larity of  truth ;  but  then  it  is  of  studied  and  elaborate  fiction, 
or  of  a  formal  attempt  to  deceive,  that  we  observe  this. 
Since,  however,  experience  proves  that  particularity  is  not  con- 
lined  to  truth,  I  have  stated  that  it  is  a  proof  of  truth  only  to 
a  certain  extent,  i.  e.,  it  reduces  the  question  to  this,  whether 
we  can  depend  or  not,  upon  the  probity  of  the  relator :  which  is 
a  considerable  advance  in  our  present  argument ;  for  an  express 
attempt  to  deceive,  in  which  case  alone  particularity  can  appear 
without  truth,  is  charged  upon  the  evangelists  by  few.  If  the 
historian  acknowledge  himself  to  have  received  his  intelligence 
from  others,  the  particularity  of  the  narrative  shows,  prima 
facie,  the  accuracy  of  his  inquiries,  and  the  fulness  of  IiSb 
information.  This  remark  belongs  to  St.  Luke's  history.  Of 
the  particularity  which  we  allege,  many  examples  may  be  found 
in  all  the  gospels.  And  it  is  very  difficult  to  conceive,  that 
such  numerous  particularities,  as  are  almost  everywhere  to  be 
met  with  in  the  scriptures,  should  be  raised  out  of  nothing,  or 
be  spun  out  of  the  imagination  without  any  fact  to  go  upon.2 

It  is  to  be  remarked,  however,  that  this  particularity  is  only 
to  be  looked  for  in  direct  history.  It  is  not  natural  in  re- 
ferences or  allusions,  which  yet,  in  other  respects,  often  afford, 
as  far  as  they  go,  the  most  unsuspicious  evidence. 

1  Both  these  chapters  ought  to  be  read  for  the  sake  of  this  very  observation. 

s  'Their  is  always  some;  truth  where  there  are  considerable  particularities  re- 
lated ;  and  they  always  seem  to  bear  some  proportion  to  one  another.  Thus 
there  is  a  great  want  of  the  particulars  of  time,  place,  and  persons,  in  Maudlin's 
account  of  the  Egyptian  Dynasties,  Etesias's  of  the  Assyrian  Kings,  and  those 
which  the  technical  chronologers  have  given  of  the  ancient  kingdoms  of  Greece  ; 
and.  agreeably  thereto,  these  accounts  have  much  fiction  and  falsehood,  with 
some  truth  :  whereas  Thucydides'  History  of  the  Peloponnesian  War,  and  Caesar's 
of  the  War  in  Gaul,  in  both  which  the  particulars  of  time,  place,  and  persons 
are  mentioned,  are  universally  esteemed  true  to  a  great  degree  of  exactness.' — 

lla.ltey.   vol.  ii.  p.   109. 


Prop.  2,  Ch.  i.]  Alleged  Evidence  for  the  Miracles.  187 

VI.  We  lay  out  of  the  case  such  stories  of  supernatural 
events,  as  require  on  the  part  of  the  hearer,  nothing  more  than 
an  otiose  assent ;  stories  upon  which  nothing  depends,  in  which 
no  interest  is  involved,  nothing  is  to  be  done  or  changed  in  con- 
sequence of  believing  them.  Such  stories  are  credited,  if  the 
careless  assent  that  is  given  to  them  deserve  that  name,  more 
by  the  indolence  of  the  hearer,  than  by  his  judgment :  or 
though  not  much  credited  are  passed  from  one  to  another 
without  inquiry  or  resistance.  To  this  case,  and  to  this  case 
alone,  belongs  what  is  called  the  love  of  the  marvellous.  I 
have  never  known  it  carry  men  further.  Men  do  not  suffer 
persecution  from  the  love  of  the  marvellous.  Of  the  indifferent 
nature  we  are  speaking  of,  are  most  vulgar  errors  and  popular 
superstitions  :  most,  for  instance,  of  the  current  reports  of  appa- 
ritions. Nothing  depends  upon  their  being  true  or  false.  But 
not,  surely,  of  this  kind  were  the  alleged  miracles  of  Christ 
and  his  apostles.  They  decided,  if  true,  the  most  important 
question  upon  which  the  human  mind  can  fix  its  anxiety.  They 
claimed  to  regulate  the  opinions  of  mankind,  upon  subjects  in 
which  they  are  not  only  deeply  concerned,  but  usually  refractory 
and  obstinate.  Men  could  not  be  utterly  careless  in  such  a 
case  as  this.  If  a  Jew  took  up  the  story,  he  found  his  darling 
partiality  to  his  own  nation  and  law  wounded  ;  if  a  Gentile,  he 
found  his  idolatry  and  polytheism  reprobated  and  condemned. 
Whoever  entertained  the  account,  whether  Jew  or  Gentile,  could 
not  avoid  the  following  reflection  : — '  If  these  things  be  true,  I 
must  give  up  the  opinions  and  principles  in  which  I  have  been 
brought  up,  the  religion  in  which  my  fathers  lived  and  died.' 
It  is  not  conceivable  that  a  man  should  do  this  upon  any  idle 
report  or  frivolous  account,  or,  indeed,  without  being  fully 
satisfied  and  convinced  of  the  truth  and  credibiltty  of  the  nar- 
rative to  which  he  trusted.  But  it  did  not  stop  at  opinions. 
They  who  believed  Christianity,  acted  upon  it.  Many  made  it 
the  express  business  of  their  lives  to  publish  the  intelligence. 
It  was  required  of  those  who  admitted  that  intelligence,  to 
change  forthwith  their  conduct  and  their  principles,  to  take  up 
a  different  course  of  life,  to  part  with  their  habits  and  grati- 
fications, and  begin  a  new  set  of  rules,  and  system  of  behavior. 
The  apostles,  at  least,  were  interested  not  to  sacrifice  their  ease, 
their  fortunes,  and   their  lives  for   an   idle  tale ;   multitudes 


188  Evidences  of  Christianity.  [Part  I. 

beside  them  Mere  induced,  by  the  same  tale,  to  encounter  op- 
position, danger  and  sufferings. 

If  it  be  said,  that  the  mere  promise  of  a  future  state  would 
do  all  this  ;  I  answer,  that  the  mere  promise  of  a  future  state, 
without  any  evidence  to  give  credit  or  assurance  to  it,  would  do 
nothing.  A  few  wandering  fishermen  talking  of  a  resurrection 
of  the  dead  could  produce  no  effect.  If  it  be  further  said,  that 
men  easily  believe  what  they  anxiously  desire,  I  again  answer 
that,  in  my  opinion,  the  very  contrary  of  this  is  nearer  to  the 
truth.  Anxiety  of  desire,  earnestness  of  expectation,  the  vast- 
ness  of  an  event,  rather  causes  men  to  disbelieve,  to  doubt,  to 
dread  a  fallacy,  to  distrust,  and  to  examine.  When  our  Lord's 
resurrection  was  first  reported  to  the  apostles,  they  did  not 
believe,  we  are  told,  for  joy.  This  was  natural,  and  is  agreeable 
to  experience. 

VII.  We  have  laid  out  of  the  case  those  accounts  which  re- 
quire no  more  than  a  simple  assent ;  and  we  now  also  lay  out 
of  the  case  those  which  come  merely  in  affirmance  of  opinions 
already  formed.  This  last  circumstance  is  of  the  utmost  im- 
portance to  notice  well.  It  has  long  been  observed,  that  Popish^ 
miracles  happen  in  Popish  countries  ;  that  they  make  no  con- 
verts :  which  proves  that  stories  are  accepted,  when  they  fall  in 
with  principles  already  fixed,  with  the  public  sentiments,  or 
with  the  sentiments  of  a  party  already  engaged  on  the  side  the 
miracle  supports,  which  would  not  be  attempted  to  be  pro- 
duced in  the  face  of  enemies,  in  opposition  to  reigning  tenets  or 
favorite  prejudices,  or  when,  if  they  be  believed,  the  belief 
must  draw  men  away  from  their  preconceived  and  habitual 
opinions,  from  their  modes  of  life  and  rules  of  action.  In  the 
former  case,  men  may  not  only  receive  a  miraculous  account? 
but  may  both  act  and  suffer  on  the  side,  and  in  the  cause, 
which  the  miracle  supports,  yet  not  act  or  suffer  for  the  miracle, 
but  in  pursuance  of  a  prior  persuasion.  The  miracle,  like  any 
other  argument,  which  only  confirms  what  was  before  believed, 
is  admitted  with  little  examination.  In  the  moral  as  in  the 
natural  world,  it  is  change  which  requires  a  cause.  Men  are 
easily  fortified  in  their  old  opinions,  driven  from  them  with 
great  difficulty.  Now,  how  does  this  apply  to  the  christian 
history?  The  miracles,  there  recorded,  were  wrought  in  the 
midst  of  enemies,  under   a  government,  a  priesthood,  and   a 


Prop.  2,  Ch.  i.]  Alleged  Evidence  for  the  Miracles.  189 

magistracy,  decidedly  and  vehemently  adverse  to  them,  and  to 
the  pretensions  which  they  supported.  They  were  Protestant 
miracles  in  a  Popish  country ;  they  were  Popish  miracles  in 
the  midst  of  Protestants.  They  produced  a  change;  they 
established  a  society  upon  the  spot,  adhering  to  the  belief  of 
them;  they  made  converts;  and  those  who  were  converted, 
gave  up  to  the  testimony  their  most  fixed  opinions  and  most 
favorite  prejudices.  They  who  acted  and  suffered  in  the 
cause,  acted  and  suffered  for  the  miracles ;  for  there  was  no 
anterior  persuasion  to  induce  them,  no  prior  reverence,  prejudice, 
or  partiality,  to  take  hold  of.  Jesus  had  not  one  follower  when 
he  set  up  his  claim.  His  miracles  gave  birth  to  his  sect.  No 
part  of  this  description  belongs  to  the  ordinary  evidence  of 
Heathen  or  Popish  miracles.  Even  most  of  the  miracles 
alleged  to  have  been  performed  by  Christians,  in  the  second 
and  third  century  of  its  era,  want  this  confirmation.  It  con- 
stitutes indeed  a  line  of  partition  between  the  origin  and  the 
progress  of  Christianity.  Frauds  and  fallacies  might  mix  them- 
selves with  the  progress,  which  could  not  possibly  take  place 
in  the  commencement  of  the  religion;  at  least,  according  to 
any  laws  of  human  conduct  that  we-  are  acquainted  with. 
What  should  suggest  to  the  first  propagators  of  Christianity, 
especially  to  fishermen,  tax-gatherers,  and  husbandmen,  such  a 
thought  as  that  of  changing  the  religion  of  the  world ;  what 
could  bear  them  through  the  difficulties  in  which  the  attem  pt 
engaged  them ;  what  could  procure  any  degree  of  success  to  the 
attempt ;  are  questions  which  apply  with  great  force  to  the 
setting  out  of  the  institution,  with  less  to  every  future  stage  of  it. 
To  hear  some  men  talk,  one  would  suppose  the  setting  up  of 
a  religion  by  miracles  to  be  a  thing  of  every  day's  experi- 
ence ;  whereas  the  whole  current  of  history  is  against  it.  Hath 
any  founder  of  a  new  sect  amongst  Christians  pretended  to 
miraculous  powers,  and  succeeded  by  his  pretensions  ?  '  "Were 
these  powers  claimed  or  exercised  by  the  founders  of  the  sects 
of  the  Waldenses  and  Albigenses  ?  Did  "Wickliff  in  England 
pretend  to  it  ?  Did  Huss  or  Jerome  in  Bohemia  ?  Did  Luther 
in  Germany,  Zuingliusin  Switzerland,  Calvin  in  France,  or  any 
of  the  reformers  advance  this  plea  ? 1    The  French  prophets, 

1  Campbell  on  Miracles,  p.  120,  ed.  1766. 


190  Evidences  of  Christianity.  [Part  I. 

in  the  beginning  of  the  present  century,  ventured  to  allege 
miraculous  evidence,  and  immediately  ruined  their  cause  by 
their  temerity.  '  Concerning  the  religion  of  ancient  Rome,  of 
Turkey,  of  Siam,  of  China,  a  single  miracle  cannot  be  named, 
that  was  ever  offered  as  a  test  of  any  of  those  religions  before 
their  establishment.' ' 

"We  may  add  to  what  has  been  observed,  of  the  distinction 
which  we  are  considering,  that,  where  miracles  are  alleged 
merely  in  affirmance  of  a  prior  opinion,  they  who  believe  the 
doctrine  may  sometimes  propagate  a  belief  of  the  miracles 
which  they  do  not  themselves  entertain.  This  is  the  case  of 
what  are  called  pious  frauds ;  but  it  is  a  case,  I  apprehend, 
which  takes  place  solely  in  support  af  a  persuasion  already 
established.  At  least  it  does  not  hold  of  the  apostolical  his- 
tory. If  the  apostles  did  not  believe  the  miracles,  they  did 
not  believe  the  religion ;  and,  without  this  belief,  where  was 
the  piety,  what  place  was  there  for  any  thing  which  could  bear 
the  name  or  color  of  piety,  in  publishing  and  attesting  mir- 
acles in  its  behalf?  If  it  be  said  that  many  promote  the 
belief  of  revelation,  and  of  any  accounts  which  favor  thaj 
belief,  because  they  think  them,  whether  well  or  ill  founded,  of 
public  and  political  utility,  I  answer,  that  if  a  character  exist, 
which  can  with  less  justice  than  another  be  ascribed  to  the 
founders  of  the  christian  religion,  it  is  that  of  politicians,  or 
of  men  capable  of  entertaining  political  views.  The  truth  is, 
that  there  is  no  assignable  character  which  will  account  for  the 
conduct  of  the  apostles,  supposing  their  story  to  be  false.  If 
bad  men,  what  could  have  induced  them  to  take  such  pains 
to  promote  virtue?  If  good  men,  they  would  not  have 
gone  about  the  country  with  a  string  of  lies  in  their 
mouths. 

In  appreciating  the  credit  of  any  miraculous  story,  these 
are  distinctions  which  relate  to  the  evidence.  There  are  other 
distinctions,  of  great  moment  in  the  question,  which  relate  to 
the  miracles  themselves.  Of  which  latter  kind  the  following 
ought  carefully  to  be  retained. 

I.  It  is  not  necessary  to  admit  as  a  miracle,  what  can  be 
resolved  into  &  false  perception.     Of  this  nature  was  the  demon 

1   Adam's  on  Miracles,  p.  75. 


Prop.  2,  Ch.  i.]    Alleged  Evidence  for  the  Miracles.  191 

of  Socrates  ;  the  visions  of  St.  Anthon  y,  and  of  many  others ; 
the  vision  which  Lord  Herbert  of  Cherbury  describes  himself 
to  have  seen  ;  Colonel  Gardiner's  vision,  as  related  in  his  life, 
written  by  Dr.  Doddridge.  All  these  may  be  accounted  for 
by  a  momentary  insanity ;  for  the  characteristic  symptom  of 
human  madness  is  the  rising  up  in  the  mind  of  images  not 
distinguishable  by  the  patient  from  impressions  upon  the 
senses.1  The  cases,  however,  in  which  the  possibility  of  this 
delusion  exists,  are  divided  from  the  cases  in  which  it  does  not 
exist,  by  many,  and  those  not  obscure  marks.  They  are,  for 
the  most  part,  cases  of  visions  or  voices.  The  object  is  hardly 
ever  touched.  The  vision  submits  not  to  be  handled.  One 
sense  does  not  confirm  another.  They  are  likewise  almost 
always  cases  of  a  solitary  witness.  It  is  in  the  highest  degree 
improbable,  and  I  know  not,  indeed,  whether  it  hath  ever  been 
the  fact,  that  the  same  derangement  of  the  mental  organs 
should  seize  different  persons  at  the  same  time ;  a  derange- 
ment, I  mean,  so  much  the  same,  as  to  represent  to  their  im- 
agination the  same  objects.  Lastly,  these  are  always  cases  of 
momentary  miracles ;  by  which  term  I  mean  to  denote  miracles 
of  which  the  whole  existence  is  of  short  duration,  in  contra- 
distinction to  miracles  which  are  attended  with  permanent 
effects.  The  appearance  of  a  spectre,  the  hearing  of  a  super- 
natural sound,  is  a  momentary  miracle.  The  sensible  proof  is 
gone  wThen  the  apparition  or  sound  is  over.  But  if  a  person 
born  blind  be  restored  to  sight,  a  notorious  cripple  to  the  use 
of  his  limbs,  or  a  dead  man  to  life,  here  is  a  permanent  effect 
produced  by  supernatural  means.  The  change  indeed  was 
instantaneous,  but  the  proof  continues.  The  subject  of  the 
miracle  remains.  The  man  cured  or  restored  is  there :  his 
former  condition  was  known,  and  his  present  condition  may 
be  examined.  This  can  by  no  possibility  be  resolved  into  false 
perception  :  and  of  this  kind  are  by  far  the  greater  part  of  the 
miracles  recorded  in  the  New  Testament.  When  Lazarus  was 
raised  from  the  dead,  he  did  not  merely  move,  and  speak,  and 
die  again  ;  or  come  out  of  the  grave  and  vanish  away.  He 
returned  to  his  home  and  his  family,  and  there  continued  ;  for 
we  find  him,  some  time  afterwards,  in  the  same  town,  sitting 


/ 


Batty  on  Lunacy. 


192  Evidences  of  Christianity.  [Part  I. 

at  table  with  Jesus  and  his  sisters ;  visited  by  great  multitudes 
of  the  Jews,  as  a  subject  of  curiosity ;  giving,  by  his  presence, 
so  much  uneasiness  to  the  Jewish  rulers  as  to  beget  in  them 
a  design  of  destroying  him.1  No  delusion  can  account  for 
this.  The  French  prophets  in  England,  some  time  since,  gave 
out  that  one  of  their  teachers  would  come  to  life  again,  but 
their  enthusiasm  never  made  them  believe  that  they  actually 
saw  him  alive.  The  blind  man,  whose  restoration  to  sight  at 
Jerusalem  is  recorded  in  the  ninth  chapter  of  St.  John's  Gos- 
pel, did  not  quit  the  place,  or  conceal  himself  from  inquiry. 
On  the  contrary,  he  was  forthcoming,  to  answer  the  call,  to 
satisfy  the  scrutiny,  and  to  sustain  the  brow-beating  of  Christ's 
angry  and  powerful  enemies.  When  the  cripple  at  the  gate 
of  the  temple  was  suddenly  cured  by  Peter,2  he  did  not  imme- 
diately relapse  into  his  former  lameness,  or  disappear  out  of 
the  city  ;  but  boldly  and  honestly  produced  himself  along  with 
the  apostles,  when  they  were  brought  the  next  day  before  the 
Jewish  council.3  Here,  though  the  miracle  was  sudden,  the 
proof  was  permanent.  The  lameness  had  been  notorious,  the 
cure  continued.  This,  therefore,  could  not  be  the  effect  of  anv 
momentary  delirium,  either  in  the  subject  or  in  the  witnesses 
of  the  transaction.  It  is  the  same  with  the  greatest  number 
of  the  Scripture  miracles.  There  are  other  eases  of  a  mixed 
nature,  in  which,  although  the  principal  miracle  be  momentary, 
some  circumstance  combined  with  it  is  permanent.  Of  this 
kind  is  the  history  of  St.  Paul's  conversion.4  The  sudden 
light  and  sound,  the  vision  and  the  voice,  upon  the  road  to 
1  )amascus,  were  momentary :  but  Paul's  blindness  for  three 
days  in  consequence  of  what  had  happened ;  the  communica- 
tion made  to  Ananias  in  another  place,  and  by  a  vision  inde- 
pendent of  the  former;  Ananias  finding  out  Paul  in  conse- 
quence of  intelligence  so  received,  and  finding  him  in  the  con- 
dition described  ;  and  Paul's  recovery  of  his  sight  upon  Ananias 
laying  his  hands  upon  him, — are  circumstances  which  take  the 
transaction,  and  the  principal  miracle  as  included  in  it,  entirely 
out  of  the  case  of  momentary  miracles,  or  of  such  as  may  lie 
accounted  for  by  false  perceptions.  Exactly  the  same  thing 
may  be  observed  of  Peter's  vision  preparatory  to  the  call  of 


'  John  xii.  1,  2,  9,  10.  »  Acts  Hi.  2.  '  Ibid,  i v.  14.  «Ibidix. 


Prop.  2,  Ch.  i.]    Alleged  Evidence  for  the  Miracles.  193 

Cornelius,  and  of  its  connection  with  what  was  imparted  in  a 
distant  place  to  Cornelius  himself,  and  with  the  message  dis- 
patched by  Cornelius  to  Peter.  The  vision  might  be  a  dream ; 
the  message  could  not.  Either  communication,  taken  sepa- 
rately, might  be  a  delusion ;  the  concurrence  of  the  two  was 
impossible  to  happen  without  a  supernatural  cause. 

Beside  the  risk  of  delusion  which  attaches  upon  momentary 
miracles,  there  is  also  much  more  room  for  imposture.  The 
account  cannot  be  examined  at  the  moment.  And,  when  that 
is  also  a  moment  of  hurry  and  confusion,  it  may  not  be  difficult 
for  men  of  influence  to  gain  credit  to  any  story  which  they 
may  wish  to  have  believed.  This  is  precisely  the  case  of  one 
of  the  best  attested  of  the  miracles  of  Old  Rome,  the  appear- 
ance of  Castor  and  Pollux  in  the  battle  fought  by  Posthumius 
with  the  Latins  at  the  lake  Pegillus.  There  is  no  doubt  but 
that  Posthumius,  after  the  battle,  spread  the  report  of  such  an 
appearance.  No  person  could  deny  it,  while  it  was  said  to  last. 
No  person,  perhaps,  had  any  inclination  to  dispute  it  after- 
wards ;  or,  if  they  had,  could  say  with  positiveness,  what  was, 
or  what  was  not  seen,  by  some  or  other  of  the  army,  in  the 
dismay  and  amidst  the  tumult  of  a  battle. 

In  assigning  false  perceptions  as  the  origin  to  which  some 
miraculous  accounts  may  be  referred,  I  have  not  mentioned 
claims  to  inspiration,  illuminations,  secret  notices  or  directions, 
internal  sensations,  or  consciousness  of  being  acted  upon  by 
spiritual  influences,  good  or  bad ;  because  these,  appealing  to 
no  externa]  proof,  however  convincing  they  may  be  to  the  per- 
sons themselves,  form  no  part  of  what  can  be  accounted  mirac- 
ulous evidence.  Their  own  credibility  stands  upon  their  alliance 
with  other  miracles.  The  discussion,  therefore,  of  all  such 
pretensions  may  be  omitted. 

II.  It  is  not  necessary  to  bring  into  the  comparison  what 
may  be  called  tentative  miracles  ;  that  is,  where,  out  of  a  great 
number  of  trials,  some  succeed  ;  and  in  the  accounts  of  which, 
although  the  narrative  of  the  successful  cases  be  alone  preserved, 
and  that  of  the  unsuccessful  cases  sunk,  yet  enough  is  stated  to 
show  that  the  cases  produced  are  only  a  few  out  of  many  in 
which  the  same  means  have  been  employed.  This  observation 
bears,  with  considerable  force,  upon  the  ancient  oracles  and 
auguries,  in  which  a  single  coincidence  of  the  event  with  the 


194  Evidences  of  Christianity.  [Part  I. 

prediction  is  talked  of  and  magnified,  while  failures  are  forgot- 
ten, or  suppressed,  or  accounted  for.  It  is  also  applicable  to 
the  cures  wrought  by  relics,  and  at  the  tombs  of  saints.  The 
boasted  efficacy  of  the  king's  touch,  upon  which  Mr.  Hume 
lays  some  stress,  falls  under  the  same  description.  Nothing  is 
alleged  concerning  it,  which  is  not  alleged  of  various  nostrums, 
namely,  out  of  many  thousands  who  have  used  them,  certified 
proofs  of  a  few  who  have  recovered  after  them.  No  solution  of  this 
sort  is  applicable  to  the  miracles  of  the  gospel.  There  is  noth- 
ing in  the  narrative  which  can  induce,  or  even  allow,  us  to  be- 
lieve, that  Christ  attempted  cures  in  many  instances,  and  suc- 
ceeded in  a  few,  or  that  he  ever  made  the  attempt  in  vain. 
He  did  not  profess  to  heal  everywhere  all  that  were  sick  ;  on 
the  contrary,  he  told  the  Jews,  evidently  meaning  to  represent 
his  own  case,  that,  '  although  many  widows  were  in  Israel  in 
the  days  of  Elias,  when  the  heaven  was  shut  up  three  years  and 
six  months,  when  great  famine  was  throughout  all  the  land,  yet 
unto  none  of  them  was  Elias  sent,  save  unto  Sarepta,  a  city  of 
Sidon,  unto  a  woman  that  was  a  widow  :'  and  that  'many 
lepers  were  in  Israel  in  the  time  of  Eliseus  the  prophet,  and 
none  of  them  was  cleansed  saving  Naaman  the  Syrian.' l  By 
which  examples  he  gave  them  to  understand,  that  it  was  not  the 
nature  of  a  divine  interposition,  or  necessary  to  its  purpose,  to 
be  general ;  still  less,  to  answer  every  challenge  that  might  be 
made,  which  would  teach  men  to  put  their  faith  upon  these 
experiments.  Christ  never  pronounced  the  word  but  the 
effect  followed.2  It  was  not  a  thousand  sick  that  received  his 
benediction,  and  a  few  that  were  benefited  ;  a  single  paralytic 
is  let  down  in  his  bed  at  Jesus's  feet,  in  the  midst  of  a  sur- 
rounding multitude  ;  Jesus  bid  him  walk,  and  he  did  so.3  A 
man   with  a  withered  hand  is  in   the  synagogue ;    Jesus  bid 

1  Luke  iv.  25. 
2  One,  and  only  one,  instance  may  be  produced  in  which  the  disciples  of  Christ 
do  seem  to  have  attempted  a  cure,  and  not  to  have  been  able  to  perform  it.  The 
story  is  very  ingenuously  related  by  tbree  of  the  evangelists.0  The  patient  was 
afterwards  healed  by  Christ  himself  ;  and  the  whole  transaction  seems  to  have 
been  intended,  as  it  was  well  suited,  to  display  the  superiority  of  Christ  above  all 
who  performed  miracles  in  his  name  ;  a  distinction  which,  during  his  presence  in 
the  world,  it  might  be  necessary  to  inculcate  by  some  such  proof  as  this. 

3  Mark  ii.  3. 


°  Mark  ix.  14.  Matt.  xvi.  20. 


Prop.  2,  Ch.  i.]      Alleged  Evidence  for  the  Miracles.  195 

him  stretch  forth  his  hand,  in  the  presence  of  the  assembly, 
and  it  was  restored  whole  like  the  other.'1  There  was  nothing 
tentative  in  these  cures ;  nothing  that  can  be  explained  by  the 
power  of  accident. 

We  may  observe  also,  that  many  of  the  cures  which  Christ 
wrought,  such  as  that  of  a  person  blind  from  his  birth,  also 
many  miracles  beside  cures — as  raising  the  dead,  walking  upon 
the  sea,  feeding  a  great  multitude  with  a  few  loaves  and  fishes 
— are  of  a  nature  which  does  not  in  any  wise  admit  of  the  sup- 
position of  a  fortunate  experiment. 

III.  We  may  dismiss  from  the  question  all  accounts  in  which, 
allowing  the  phenomenon  to  be  real,  the  fact  to  be  true,  it  still 
remains  doubtful  whether  a  miracle  were  wrought.  This  is 
the  case  with  the  ancient  history  of  what  is  called  the  thun- 
dering legion,  of  the  extraordinary  circumstances  which  ob- 
structed the  rebuilding  of  the  temple  at  Jerusalem  by  Julian, 
the  circling  of  the  flames  and  fragrant  smell  at  the  martyrdom 
of  Polycarp,  the  sudden  shower  that  extinguished  the  fire  into 
which  the  Scriptures  were  thrown  in  the  Diocletian  persecu- 
tion ;  Constantine's  dream  ;  his  inscribing,  in  consequence  of  it, 
the  cross  upon  his  standard  and  the  shields  of  his  soldiers  ;  his 
victory,  and  the  escape  of  the  standard-bearer;  perhaps  also 
the  imagined  appearance  of  the  cross  in  the  heavens,  though 
this  last  circumstance  is  very  deficient  in  historical  evidence. 
It  is  also  the  case  with  the  modern  annual  exhibition  of  the 
liquefaction  of  the  blood  of  St.  Januarius  at  Naples.  It  is  a 
doubt  likewise,  which  ought  to  be  excluded  by  very  special 
circumstances  from  these  narratives  which  relate  to  the  super- 
natural cure  of  hypochondriacal  and  nervous  complaints,  and 
of  all  diseases  which  are  much  affected  by  the  imagination. 
The  miracles  of  the  second  and  third  century  are,  usually, 
healing  the  sick,  and  casting  out  evil  spirits,  miracles  in  which 
there  is  room  for  some  error  and  deception.  We  hear  nothing 
of  causing  the  blind  to  see,  the  lame  to  walk,  the  deaf  to  hear, 
the  lepers  to  be  cleansed.2  There  are  also  instances,  in  Chris- 
tian writers,  of  reputed  miracles,  which  were  natural  operations, 
though  not  known  to  be  such  at  the  time — as  that  of  articulate 
speech  after  the  loss  of  a  great  part  of  the  tongue. 


1  Matt.  xii.  10.  '  Jovtin's  Remarks,  vol.  ii.  p.  51. 


196  Evidences  of  Christianity.  [Part  I. 

IV.  To  the  same  head  of  objection  nearly,  may  also  be  re- 
ferred accounts  in  which  the  variation  of  a  small  circumstance 
may  have  transformed  some  extraordinary  appearance,  or  some 
critical  coincidence  of  events,  into  a  miracle ;  stories,  in  a  word, 
which  may  be  resolved  into  exaggeration.  The  miracles  of  the 
Gospel  can  by  no  possibility  be  explained  away  in  this  manner. 
Total  fiction  will  account  for  any  thing  ;  but  no  stretch  of  ex- 
aggeration that  has  any  parallel  in  other  histories,  no  force 
of  fancy  upon  real  circumstances,  could  produce  the  narratives 
which  we  now  have.  The  feeding  of  the  five  thousand  with  a 
few  loaves  and  fishes  surpasses  all  bounds  of  exaggeration.  The 
raising  of  Lazarus,  of  the  widow's  son  at  Nain,  as  well  as  many 
of  the  cures  which  Christ  wrought,  come  not  within  the  com- 
pass of  misrepresentation.  I  mean,  that  it  is  impossible  to  as- 
sign any  position  of  circumstances,  however  peculiar,  any  acci- 
dental effects,  however  extraordinary,  any  natural  singularity, 
which  could  supply  an  origin  or  foundation  to  these  accounts. 

Having  thus  enumerated  several  exceptions,  which  may 
justly  be  taken  to  relations  of  miracles,  it  is  necessary,  when  we 
read  the  Scriptures,  to  bear  in  our  minds  this  general  remark, 
that,  although  there  be  miracles  recorded  in  the  New  Testamefrt 
which  fall  within  some  or  other  of  the  exceptions  here  assigned, 
yet  that  they  are  united  with  others  to  which  none  of  the  same 
exceptions  extend,  and  that  their  credibility  stands  upon  this 
union.  Thus  the  visions  and  revelations  which  St.  Paul  asserts 
to  have  been  imparted  to  him,  may  not,  in  their  separate  evi- 
dence, be  distinguishable  from  the  visions  and  revelations  which 
many  others  have  alleged.  But  here  is  the  difference.  St. 
Paul's  pretensions  were  attested  by  external  miracles  wrought 
by  himself,  and  b}T  miracles  wrought  in  the  cause  to  which 
these  visions  relate ;  or,  to  speak  more  properly,  the  same  his- 
torical  authority  which  informs  us  of  one  informs  us  of  the  other. 
This  is  not  ordinarily  true  of  the  visions  of  enthusiasts,  or  even 
of  the  accounts  in  which  they  are  contained.  Again,  some  of 
Christ's  own  miracles  were  momentary;  as  the  transfigura- 
tion, the  appearance  and  voice  from  heaven  at  his  baptism, 
a  voice  from  the  clouds  upon  one  occasion  afterwards  (John 
xii.  30),  and  some  others.  It  is  not  denied,  that  the  distinction 
which  we  have  proposed  concerning  miracles  of  this  species 
applies,  in  diminution  of  the  force  of  the  evidence,  as  much  to 


Prop.  2,  Ch.  i.]     Alleged  Evidence  for  the  Miracles.  197 

these  instances  as  to  others.  But  this  is  the  case,  not  with  all 
the  miracles  ascribed  to  Christ,  nor  with  the  greatest  part,  nor 
with  many.  Whatever  force  therefore  there  may  be  in  the 
objection,  we  have  numerous  miracles  which  are  free  from  it; 
and  even  these  to  which  it  is  applicable,  are  little  affected  by  it 
in  their  credit,  because  there  are  few,  who,  admitting  the  rest, 
will  reject  them.  If  there  be  miracles  of  the  New  Testament, 
which  come  within  any  of  the  other  heads  into  which  we  have 
distributed  the  objections,  the  same  remark  must  be  repeated. 
And  this  is  one  way,  in  which  the  unexampled  number  and 
variety  of  the  miracles  ascribed  to  Christ,  strengthens  the  cred- 
ibility of  Christianity.  For  it  precludes  any  solution,  or  con- 
jecture about  a  solution,  which  imagination,  or  even  which  ex- 
perience might  suggest  concerning  some  particular  miracles,  if 
considered  independently  of  others.  The  miracles  of  Christ 
were  of  various  kinds,1  and  performed  in  great  varieties  of  sit- 
uation, form,  and  manner  ;  at  Jerusalem,  the  metropolis  of  the 
Jewish  nation  and  religion  ;  in  different  parts  of  Judea  and 
Galilee ;  in  cities  and  villages ;  in  synagogues,  in  private 
houses ;  in  the  street,  in  highways ;  with  preparation,  as  in  the 
case  of  Lazarus  ;  by  accident,  as  in  the  case  of  the  widow's  son 
of  Nain  ;  when  attended  by  multitudes,  and  when  alone  with 
the  patient ;  in  the  midst  of  his  disciples,  and  in  the  presence  of 
his  enemies ;  with  the  common  people  around  him,  and  before 
Scribes  and  Pharisees,  and  rulers  of  the  synagogues. 

I  apprehend  that,  when  we  remove  from  the  comparison  the 
cases  which  are  fairly  disposed  of  by  the  observations  that  have 
been  stated,  many  cases  will  not  remain.  To  those  which  do 
remain,  we  apply  this  final  distinction  :  '  that  there  is  not  satis- 
factory evidence,  that  persons,  pretending  to  be  original  wit- 
nesses of  the  miracles,  passed  their  lives  in  labors,  dangers,  and 
sufferings,  voluntarily  undertaken  and  undergone  in  attestation 
of  the  accounts  which  they  delivered,  and  properly  in  conse- 
quence of  their  belief  of  the  truth  of  those  accounts.' 

1  Not  only  healing  every  species  of  disease,  but  turning  water  into  wine  (John 
ii.) ;  feeding  multitudes  with  a  few  loaves  and  fishes  (Matt.  xiv.  14  ;  Mark  iv.  35  ; 
Luke  ix.  12  ;  John  iv.  5)  ;  walking  on  the  sea  (Matt.  xiv.  23)  ;  calming  a  storm 
(Matt.  viii.  26  ;  Luke  viii.  23)  ;  a  celestial  voice  at  his  baptism,  and  miraculous 
appearance  (Matt.  iii.  17;  afterwards  John  xii.  28);  his  transfiguration  (Matt. 
xvii.  1-8  ;  Mark  ix.  2  ;  Luke  ix.  28  ;  2  Ep.  Peter  i.  16,  17)  ;  raising  the  dead  in 
three  distinct  instances  (Matt.  ix.  18 ;  Mark  v.  22  ;  Luke  viii.  41 ;  vii.  14  ;  John  xi.) 


108  Evidences  of  Christianity.  [Part  I. 


ANNOTATIONS. 

'  The  particularity  in  the  description  of  St.  PauVs  voyage  and 
shipnoreck :/  which  no  man,  I  think,  can  read  without  being 
convinced  that  the  writer  was  there.'' 

A  most  interesting  work  on  this  subject  has  since  appeared  ; 
Smith's  Voyage  and  shipwreck  of  St.  Paid,  in  which  the  au- 
thor has,  with  great  and  ingenious  assiduity,  thrown  a  wonder- 
ful amount  of  light  on  this  portion  of  history.' 

'  The  French  prophets  gave  out  that  one  of  their  teachers  would 
come  to  life  again  ;  but  their  enthusiasm  never  made  them 
believe  that  they  actually  saw  him  alive? 

Very  remarkable  is  the  case  of  the  pretended  prophetess 
Joanna  Southcote,  who,  some  years  ago,  persuaded  a  band  of 
deluded  followers  that  she  would  rise  from  the  dead.  Credu- 
lous as  they  were,  they  would  probably  not  have  believed  this 
if  they  had  not  been  previously  believers  in  our  Lord's  resur- 
rection. And  yet,  after  all,  they  never  brought  themselves  to 
believe  that  her  resurrection,  which  (unlike  his  disciples)  thtey 
were  fully  expecting,  ever  did  take  place. 

Lamentable  as  is  the  spectacle  of  human  weakness  exhibited 
by  those  fanatics,  we  ought  to  be  thankful  for  the  confirmation 
of  our  faith  which  it  affords  to  those  '  that  have  ears  to  hear.' 
Suppose  a  man  of  inquiring  and  candid  disposition  to  have  the 
question  strongly  brought  before  his  mind,  whether  it  is  possi- 
ble for  a  number  of  persons  to  believe  in  the  resurrection — sup- 
posing it  not  to  have  taken  place — of  one  whom  they  had  long 
and  intimately  known,  and  of  whose  death  they  were  witnesses  ; 
and  to  believe  that  they  saw  him,  touched  him,  conversed  with 
him,  ate  and  drank  with  him,  many  times,  during  a  period  of 
several  weeks  ;  he  would  here  find  an  answer  in  the  negative, 
with  as  strong  proof  as  a  negative  admits  of.  For,  these  peo- 
ple had  been,  we  should  remember,  brought  up  in  the  belief  of 
the  resurrection  of  a  divine  teacher  ;  which  the  Apostles  had  not. 
And  they  were  as  fully  prepared  as  the  Apostles  were  the  re- 
verse, to  expect  such  an  event.  We  may  be  assured,  therefore, 
that  if  such  a  delusion  had  been  at  all  possible,  it  would  have 
occurred  in  that  instance. 


Prop.  2,  Ch.  i.]  Annotations.  199 

'  We  may  dismiss  from  the  question  all  cases  in  which,  allow- 
ing the  fact  to  be  true,  it  still  remains  doubtful  whether  a 
miracle  were  wrought? 

Some  Writers,  having  a  leaning  toward  the  naturalistic 
school,  while  they  admit  the  general  truth  of  the  Scripture- 
narratives,  have  labored  hard  to  make  out  that  some  of  the 
miracles  recorded  may  be  explained  as  natural  occurrences  ; 
though  the  rest,  they  acknowledge  to  imply  a  superhuman 
agency.  They  forget  that  even  if  their  explanations  had  been 
as  reasonable  as  they  are  emphatically  the  reverse,  there  would 
still  have  been  a  mere  waste  of  perverted  ingenuity :  since  if 
it  be  once  established  that  a  certain  person  did  possess  super- 
human power,  it  is  of  no  practical  consequence  whether  he 
performed  a  hundred  miracles,  or  only  fifty. 

It  is  to  be  remarked  that  in  several  cases  of  what  are 
reckoned  miracles  (and  justly  so,  if  the  evidence  be  sufficient), 
there  is,  in  the  occurrence  itself — though  an  unusual  one — 
nothing  that  is  properly  miraculous  ;  but  only,  in  the  prediction 
of  it.  Such,  for  instance,  are  what  are  called  the  miraculous 
draughts  of  fishes — the  swallowing  up  of  Korali  and  his  com- 
pany by  an  earthquake — the  drought  and  famine  announced 
by  Elijah — and  several  others. 

Some  years  ago,  a  person  of  eminent  ability  in  his  own 
department,  but  who  was  ambitious  of  displaying  his  powers 
on  matters  which  he  had  not  studied,  was  declaiming  on  the 
destruction  of  Sennacherib's  army,  which,  he  said,  was  doubt- 
less the  effect  of  the  Simoom — the  pestilential  blast  from  the 
Desert  which  has  often  proved  fatal  to  travellers.  There  was 
therefore,  he  said,  nothing  miraculous  in  the  event — nothing 
that  could  not  be  accounted  for  by  natural  causes.  '  And 
what  difference  does  that  make'  (said  a  youth  who  was  in  the 
company),  '  if  it  was  prophesied  V 

If  it  had  been  declared  beforehand  concerning  those  eighteen 
who  were  crushed  by  the  fall  of  a  tower,1  that  they  had — like 
Korah — '  provoked  the  Lord ;'  and  that  they  would  in  conse- 
quence suffer  an  untimely  and  violent  death,  this  would  au- 
thorize a  belief  in  the  prophetic  character  of  the  person  who 
announced  this.     And  so  also,  if  the  Cholera,  or  the  Famine, 


1  Luke  xlii. 


200  Evidences  of  Christianity.  [Fart  I. 

which  visited  us,  had  been  predicted  by  any  one  at  a  time 
when  there  was  no  reason — humanly  speaking — for  expecting 
any  such  event,  and  he  had  announced,  as  by  a  divine  revela- 
tion, both  the  precise  time,  and  the  exact  circumstances  of  the 
visitation,  and  that  it  was  a  sign  of  divine  displeasure  towards 
the  sufferers,  we  should  have  recognized  him  as  an  ins|)ired 
Prophet.  But  as  it  is,  any  one  who  presumes,  in  defiance  of 
our  Lord's  declaration  (Luke  xiii.),  to  use  such  language,  and 
moreover  to  denounce  as  ungodly  all  who  venture  to  differ 
from  him,  shows  himself  as  deficient  in  sound  judgment,  as  in 
Christian  modesty  and  Christian  charity. 

And  there  is  reason  to  think  that  the  rash  language  of  daring 
pretension  used  by  some  religious  enthusiasts,  may  have  con- 
duced to  foster  and  spread  those  rationalistic  extravagances 
which  I  have  noticed  in  the  Introduction  to  this  volnme.  When 
men  speak  of  being  '  moved  by  the  Spirit'  to  say  what  they  do 
say — which  is,  in  other  words,  to  claim  inspiration — when  they 
describe  themselves  as  speaking  (as  Paul  did)  '  with  demon- 
stration of  the  Spirit  and  of  power' — when  they  regard  every 
thought  or  design  that  is  '  strongly  borne  in  on  their  mind'  as 
an  '  answer  to  prayer,'  and  an  undoubted  direction  from  Heaven 
— when  they  speak  of  following  the  '  inward  light'  they  possess, 
as  an  infallible  divine  guide — when  they  interpret  every  re- 
markable occurrence  as  a  sign  from  Heaven,  and  reckon  any 
event  that  furthers  their  object  as  a  manifest  divine  interposi- 
tion in  their  favor — the  Rationalist  may  step  forward  and  say, 
'  this  is  all  just  what  was  done  by  the  first  promulgators  of 
Christianity.  Any  remarkable  event,  they  called  a  miracle ; 
just  as  you  do.  Like  you,  they  considered  as  a  divine  revela- 
tion, or  direction  from  above,  any  strong  conviction,  or  strong 
impulse.  Their  miracles  were  only  poetically-colored  pictures 
of  such  tilings  as  arc  taking  place  around  us.  Their  inspira- 
tion— their  guiding  inward  light — were  only  those  vivid  im- 
pressions, and  those  grand  designs,  which  are  common  to  you 
with  them.  Both  causes  are  alike  miraculous  or  non-miracu- 
lous. And  in  both,  belief  in  the  miracle  is  not  the  cause,  but 
the  effect,  of  the  reception  of  the  doctrine.' ' 

1  To  prove  that  this  representation  is  not  that  of  Rationalists  alone,  but  of 
eel  eh  rated  Theologians  and  Preachers,  I  suhjoin  as  a  specimen  (one  out  of  many) 
a  passage  from  a  newspaper.     I  do  not  indeed  engage  for  the  accuracy  of  such 


Prop.  2,  Ch.  ii.]      Hume's  alleged  Parallels.  201 

Thus  it  is  that  presumptuous  and  unwise  Christians  prepare 
the  way  for  the  inroads  of  that  covert  infidelity,  which  by 
making  every  thing  miraculous,  makes,  in  fact,  nothing  mirac- 
ulous, and  virtually  destroys  the  whole  character  of  inspiration, 
by  making  it  universal.  A  king  would  be  virtually  dethroned, 
if  all  his  subjects  were  elevated  to  regal  power. 

Little  damage,  comparatively,  would  be  done  by  the  assail- 
ants of  our  Faith,  if  they  were  not  thus  unconsciously  aided  by 
its  injudicious  defenders. 


CHAPTER  II. 

BUT  they,  with  whom  we  argue,  have  undoubtedly  a  right  to 
select  their  own  examples.  The  instances  with  which  Mr. 
Hume  hath  chosen  to  confront  the  miracles  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment, and  which,  therefore,  we  are  entitled  to  regard  as  the 
strongest  which  the  history  of  the  world  could  supply  to  the 
inquiries  of  a  very  acute  and  learned  adversary,  are  the  three 
following : 

1.  The  cure  of  a  blind  and  of  a  lame  man  at  Alexandria,  by 
the  Emperor  Vespasian,  as  related  by  Tacitus ; 

2'.  The  restoration  of  the  limb  of  an  attendant  in  a  Spanish 
church,  as  told  by  Cardinal  de  Ketz  ;  and 

3.  The  cures  said  to  be  performed  at  the  tomb  of  the  Abbe 
Paris,  in  the  early  part  of  the  present  century. 

1.  The  narrative  of  Tacitus  is  delivered  in  these  terms: 
'  One  of  the  common  people  of  Alexandria,  known  to  be  dis- 
eased in  his  eyes,  by  the  admonition  of  the  god  Serapis,  whom 
that  superstitious  nation  worship  above  all  other  gods,  pros- 
trated himself  before  the  emperor,  earnestly  imploring  from 
him  a  remedy  for  his  blindness,  and  entreating  that  he  would 


Reports  ;  but  it  is  certain  that  they  are  widely  circulated,  and  if  uncontradicted 
likely  to  gain  credit. 

'  Dr.  on  the   Frisk  Revivals.  —  On   Sunday  night   Dr. preached  to  a 

crowded  congregation,  and  in  the  course  of  his  sermon  he  introduced  the  subject 
of  the  revivals  in  Ireland.  He  had  not,  he  said,  himself  personal  evidence  of  this 
'awakening,'  but  he  had  had  communications  from  clergymen  of  different  persua- 
sions and  from  laymen  ;  and  these  and  his  own  reflections  convinced  him  that  this 
was  indeed  the  work  of  the  Lord,  and  that  we  were  really  in  the  midst  of  the 
time  prophesied  by  Joel,  when  '  your  sons  and  daughters  shall  prophesy,  your 
old  men  shall  dream  dreams,  and  your  young  men  see  visions.'  ' 


202  Evidences  of  Christianity.  [Part  1. 

deign  to  anoint  with  his  spittle  his  cheeks  and  the  balls  of  his 
eyes.  Another,  diseased  in  his  hand,  requested,  by  the  admo- 
nition of  the  same  god,  that  he  might  be  touched  by  the  foot 
of  the  emperor.  Vespasian  at  first  derided,  and  despised  their 
application  ;  afterwards,  when  they  continued  to  urge  their  peti- 
tions, he  sometimes  appeared  to  dread  the  imputation  of  vanity  ; 
at  other  times,  by  the  earnest  supplication  of  the  patients,  and 
the  persuasion  of  his  flatterers,  to  be  induced  to  hope  for  suc- 
cess. At  length  he  commanded  an  inquiry  to  be  made  by 
the  physicians,  whether  such  a  blindness  and  debility  were  vin- 
cible by  human  aid.  The  report  of  the  physicians  contained 
various  points ;  that  in  the  one  the  power  of  vision  was  not 
destroyed,  but  would  return  if  the  obstacles  were  removed ; 
that,  in  the  other,  the  diseased  joints  might  be  restored,  if  a 
healing  power  were  applied  ;  that  it  was,  perhaps,  agreeable  to 
the  gods  to  do  this ;  that  the  emperor  was  elected  by  divine 
assistance ;  lastly,  that  the  credit  of  the  success  would  be  the 
emperor's,  the  ridicule  of  the  disappointment  would  fall  upon 
the  patients.  Vespasian,  believing  that  every  thing  was^in  the 
power  of  his  fortune,  and  that  nothing  was  any  longer  incredi- 
ble, whilst  the  multitude,  which  stood  by,  eagerly  expected  fiie 
event,  with  a  countenance  expressive  of  joy  executed  what  he 
was  desired  to  do.  Immediately  the  hand  was  restored  to  its 
use,  and  light  returned  to  the  blind  man.  They  who  were 
present,  relate  both  these  cures,  even  at  this  time,  when  there 
is  nothing  to  be  gained  by  lying.'1 

Now,  though  Tacitus  wrote  this  account  twenty-seven  years 
after  the  miracle  is  said  to  have  been  performed,  and  wrote  at 
Rome  of  what  passed  at  Alexandria,  and  wrote  also  from  report ; 
and  although  it  does  not  appear  that  he  had  examined  the  story, 
or  that  he  believed  it  (but  rather  the  contrary),  yet  I  think  his 
testimony  sufficient  to  prove  that  such  a  transaction  took  place  ; 
by  which  I  mean  that  the  two  men  in  question  did  apply  to 
Vespasian  ;  that  Vespasian  did  touch  the  diseased  in  the  manner 
related ;  and  that  a  cure  was  reported  to  have  followed  the 
operation.  But  the  affair  labors  under  a  strong  and  just  sus- 
picion, that  the  whole  of  it  was  a  concerned  imposture  brought 
about  by  collusion  between  the  patients,  the  physician,  and  the 


1  Tac.  Tli*t.  lib.  iv. 


Prop.  2,  Ch.  ii.]      Hume's  alleged  Parallels.  203 

emperor.  This  solution  is  probable,  because  there  was  every 
thing  to  suggest,  and  every  thing  to  facilitate  such  a  scheme. 
The  miracle  was  calculated  to  confer  honor  upon  the  emperor, 
and  upon  the  god  Serapis.  It  was  achieved  in  the  midst  of  the 
emperor's  flatterers  and  followers ;  in  a  city,  and  amongst  a 
populace,  beforehand  devoted  to  his  interest,  and  to  the  worship 
of  the  god  ;  where  it  would  have  been  treason  and  blasphemy 
together  to  have  contradicted  the  fame  of  the  cure,  or  even  to 
have  questioned  it.  And  what  is  very  observable  in  the  ac- 
count is,  that  the  report  of  the  physicians  is  just  such  a  report 
as  would  have  been  made  of  a  case  in  which  no  external  marks 
of  the  disease  existed,  and  which,  consequently,  was  capable  of 
being  easily  counterfeited,  viz.,  that  in  the  first  of  the  patients 
the  organs  of  vision  were  not  destroyed — that  the  weakness 
of  the  second  was  in  his  joints.  The  strongest  circumstance 
in  Tacitus's  narration  is,  that  the  first  patient  was  '  notus  tabe 
oculorum' — remarked  or  notorious  for  the  disease  in  his  eyes. 
But  this  was  a  circumstance  which  might  have  found  its  way 
into  the  story  in  its  progress  from  a  distant  country,  and  during 
an  interval  of  thirty  years  ;  or  it  might  be  true  that  the  malady 
of  the  eyes  was  notorious,  yet  that  the  nature  and  degree  of 
the  disease  had  never  been  ascertained ;  a  case  by  no  means 
uncommon.  The  emperor's  reserve  was  easily  affected  ;  or  it 
is  possible  he  might  not  be  in  the  secret.  There  does  not 
seem  to  be  much  weight  in  the  observation  of  Tacitus,  that 
they  who  were  present  continued  even  then  to  relate  the  story 
when  there  was  nothing  to  be  gained  by  the  lie.  It  only 
proves  that  those  who  had  told  the  story  for  many  years  per- 
sisted in  it.  The  state  of  mind  of  the  witnesses  and  spectators 
at  the  time,  is  the  point  to  be  attended  to.  Still  less  is  there 
of  pertinency  in  Mr.  Hume's  eulogium  upon  the  cautious  and 
penetrating  genius  of  the  historian  ;  for  it  does  not  appear  that 
the  historian  believed  it.  The  terms  in  which  he  speaks  of 
Serapis,  the  deity  to  whose  interposition  the  miracle  was  attri- 
buted, scarcely  suffer  us  to  suppose  that  Tacitus  thought  the 
miracle  to  be  real,  '  by  the  admonition  of  the  god  Serapis,  whom 
that  superstitious  nation  (dedita  superstitionibus  gens)  worship 
above  all  other  gods.'  To  have  brought  this  supposed  miracle 
within  the  limits  of  comparison  with  the  miracles  of  Christ, 
it  ought  to  have  appeared  that  a  person  of  a  low  and  private 


204  Evidences  of  Christianity.  [Part  I. 

station,  in  the  midst  of  enemies,  with  the  whole  power  of  the 
country  opposing  him,  with  every  one  around  him  prejudiced 
or  interested  against  his  claims  and  character,  pretended  to 
perform  these  cures  ;  and  required  the  spectators,  upon  the 
strength  of  what  they  saw,  to  give  up  their  firmest  hopes  and 
opinions,  and  follow  him  through  a  life  of  trial  and  danger ; 
that  many  were  so  moved,  as  to  obey  his  call,  at  the  expense, 
both  of  every  notion  in  which  they  had  been  brought  up,  and 
of  their  ease,  safety,  and  reputation ;  and  that  by  these  begin- 
nings a  change  was  produced  in  the  world,  the  effects  of  which 
remain  to  this  day  ;  a  case,  both  in  its  circumstances  and  con- 
sequences, very  unlike  any  thing  we  find  in  Tacitus's  relation. 

2.  The  story  taken  from  the  Memoirs  of  Cardinal  de  Retz, 
which  is  the  second  example  alleged  by  Mr.  Hume,  is  this  : 
'  In  the  church  of  Saragossa  in  Spain,  the  canons  showed  me 
a  man  whose  business  it  was  to  light  the  lamps,  telling  me  that 
he  had  been  several  years  at  the  gate  with  one  leg  only.  I  saw 
him  with  two.' x 

It  is  stated  by  Mr.  Hume,  that  the  Cardinal  who  relates  this 
story  did  not  believe  it ;  and  it  nowhere  appears  that  he  eitter 
examined  the  limb,  or  asked  the  patient,  or  indeed  any  one,  a 
single  question  about  the  matter.  An  artificial  leg  wrought 
with  art  would  be  sufficient,  in  a  place  where  no  such  con- 
trivance had  ever  before  been  heard  of,  to  give  origin  and  cur- 
rency to  the  report.  The  ecclesiastics  of  the  place  would,  it  is 
probable,  favor  the  story,  inasmuch  as  it  advanced  the  honor 
of  their  image  and  church.  And  if  they  patronized  it,  no  other 
person  at  Saragossa,  in  the  middle  of  the  last  century,  would 
care  to  dispute  it.  The  story  likewise  coincided,  not  less  with 
the  wishes  and  preconceptions  of  the  people,  than  with  the 
interests  of  their  ecclesiastical  rulers  :  so  that  there  was  preju- 
dice backed  by  authority,  and  both  operating  upon  extreme 
ignorance,  to  account  for  the  success  of  the  imposture.  If,  as 
I  have  suggested,  the  contrivance  of  an  artificial  limb  was  then 
new,  it  would  not  occur  to  the  Cardinal  himself  to  suspect  it ; 
especially  under  the  carelessness  of  mind  with  which  he  heard 
the  tale,  and  the  little  inclination  he  felt  to  scrutinize  or  ex- 
pose its  fallacy. 


1  Liv.  iv.,  a.  d.  1654. 


Prop.  2,  Chap,  ii.]      Hume's  alleged  Parallels.  205 

3.  The  miracles  related  to  have  been  wrought  at  the  tomb  of 
the  Abbe  Paris  admit  in  general  of  this  solution.  The  patients 
who  frequented  the  tomb  were  so  affected  by  their  devotion, 
their  expectation,  the  place,  the  solemnity,  and,  above  all,  by 
the  sympathy  of  the  surrounding  multitude,  that  many  of  them 
were  thrown  into  violent  convulsions  ;  which  convulsions,  in 
certain  instances,  produced  a  removal  of  disorders  depending 
upon  obstruction.  "We  shall,  at  this  clay,  have  the  less  diffi- 
culty in  admitting  the  above  account,  because  it  is  the  very 
same  thing  as  hath  lately  been  experienced  in  the  operations 
of  animal  magnetism  ;  and  the  report  of  the  French  physi- 
cians upon  that  mysterious  remedy  is  very  applicable  to  the 
present  consideration,  viz.,  that  the  pretenders  to  the  art,  by 
working  upon  the  imaginations  of  their  patients,  were  fre- 
quently able  to  produce  convulsions;  that  convulsions  so  pro- 
duced are  amongst  the  most  powerful,  but,  at  the  same  time, 
most  uncertain  and  unmanageable  applications  to  the  human 
frame  which  can  be  employed. 

Circumstances,  which  indicate  this  explication  in  the  case  of 
the  Parisian  miracles,  are  the  following : 

1.  They  were  tentative.  Out  of  many  thousand  sick,  infirm, 
and  diseased  persons,  who  resorted  to  the  tomb,  the  professed 
history  of  the  miracles  contains  only  nine  cures. 

2.  The  convulsions  at  the  tomb  are  admitted. 

3.  The  diseases  were,  for  the  most  part,  of  that  sort  which 
depends  upon  inaction  and  obstruction,  as  dropsies,  palsies, 
and  some  tumors. 

4.  The  cures  were  gradual ;  some  patients  attending  many 
days,  some  several  weeks,  and  some  several  months. 

5.  The  cures  were  many  of  them  incomplete. 

6.  Others  were  temporary.1 

So  that  all  the  wonder  we  are  called  upon  to  account  for  is, 
that  out  of  an  almost  innumerable  multitude  which  resorted  to 
the  tomb  for  the  cure  of  their  complaints,  and  many  of  whom 
were  there  agitated  by  strong  convulsions,  a  very  small  pro- 
portion experienced  a  beneficial  change  in  their  constitution, 
especially  in  the  action  of  the  nerves  and  glands. 

Some  of  the  cases  alleged  do  not  require  that  we  should 

1  The  reader  will  find  these  particulars  verified  in  the  detail,  by  the  accurate 
inquiries  of  the  present  Bishop  of  Sarum,  in  his  Criterion  of  Miracles,  p.  132,  et  seq. 


206  Evidences  of  Christianity.  [Part  I. 

have  recourse  to  this  solution.  The  first  case  in  the  catalogue 
is  scarcely  distinguishable  from  the  progress  of  a  natural  re- 
covery. It  was  that  of  a  young  man,  who  labored  under  an 
inflammation  of  one  eye,  and  had  lost  the  sight  of  the  other. 
The  inflamed  eye  was  relieved,  but  the  blindness  of  the  other 
remained.  The  inflammation  had  before  been  abated  by  medi- 
cine ;  and  the  young  man,  at  the  time  of  his  attendance  at  the 
tomb,  was  using  a  lotion  of  laudanum.  And,  what  is  a  still 
more  material  part  of  the  case,  the  inflammation  after  some 
interval  returned.  Another  case  was  that  of  a  young  man 
who  had  lost  his  sight  by  the  puncture  of  an  awl,  and  the 
discharge  of  the  aqueous  humor  through  the  wound.  The 
sight,  which  had  been  gradually  returning,  was  much  improved 
during  his  visit  to  the  tomb ;  that  is,  probably,  in  the  same 
degree  in  which  the  discharged  humor  was  replaced  by  fresh 
secretions.  And  it  is  observable,  that  these  two  are  the  only 
cases  which,  from  their  nature,  should  seem  unlikely  to  be 
affected  by  convulsions. 

In  one  material  respect  I  allow  that  the  Parisian  miracles 
were  different  from  those  related  by  Tacitus,  and  from  ^lie 
Spanish  miracle  of  the  Cardinal  de  Retz.  They  had  not,  like 
them,  all  the  power  and  all  the  prejudice  of  the  country  on 
their  side  to  begin  with.  They  were  alleged  by  one  party 
against  another — by  the  Jansenists  against  the  Jesuits.  These 
were  of  course  opposed  and  examined  by  their  adversaries.  The 
consequence  of  which  examination  was,  that  many  falsehoods 
were  detected — that  with  something  really  extraordinary  much 
fraud  appeared  to  be  mixed.  And  if  some  of  the  cases  upon 
which  designed  misrepresentation  could  not  be  charged  were 
not  at  the  time  satisfactorily  accounted  for,  it  was  because  the 
efficacy  of  strong  spasmodic  affections  was  not  then  sufficiently 
known.  Finally,  the  cause  of  Jansenism  did  not  rise  by  the  mira- 
cles, but  sunk,  although  the  miracles  had  the  anterior  persuasion 
of  all  the  numerous  adherents  of  that  cause  to  set  out  with. 

These,  let  us  remember,  are  the  strongest  examples  which 
the  history  of  ages  supplies.  In  none  of  them  was  the  miracle 
umquivocal  •  by  none  of  them  were  established  prejudices  and 
persuasions  overthrown ;  of  none  of  them  did  the  credit  make 
its  way,  in  opposition  to  authority  and  power  ;  by  none  of 
them  were  many  induced  to  commit  themselves,  and  that  in 


Prop.  2,  Ch.  ii.]  Annotation.  207 

contradiction  to  prior  opinions,  to  a  life  of  mortification,  dan- 
ger, and  sufferings ;  none  were  called  upon  to  attest  them,  at 
the  expense  of  their  fortune  and  safety.1 


ANNOTATION. 

The  pretenders  to  the  art  [of  Animal  Magnetism]  by  working 
upon  the  imagination  of  their  patients]  &c. 

At  the  time  when  Paley  wrote,  he  had  no  means  of  knowing 
that  the  report  of  the  French  Physicians,  to  which  he  alludes, 
was  other  than  carefully  and  candidly  made.  Time  has  since 
brought  much  truth  to  light  on  the  subject ;  and  the  most  dili- 
gent and  fair-minded  inquirers  have  for  several  years  been  con- 
vinced, that,  though  (as  was  to  be  expected)  many  instances  of 
imposture  and  of  delusion  have  occurred,  a  real,  and  powerful, 
and  serviceable  agent  has  been  discovered ;  which  does  not 
however  in  the  smallest  degree  shake  the  evidence  for  the 
Scripture-miracles,  except  in  the  minds  of  the  wrong-headed 
and  the  thoughtless. 


1  It  may  be  thought  that  the  historian  of  the  Parisian  miracles,  M.  Montgeron, 
forms  an  exception  to  this  last  assertion.  He  presented  his  book  (with  a  suspicion, 
as  it  should  seem,  of  the  danger  of  what  he  was  doing)  to  the  king  ;  and  was  short- 
ly afterwards  committed  to  prison,  from  which  he  never  came  out.  Had  the  mir- 
acles been  unequivocal,  and  had  M.  Montgeron  been  originally  convinced  by  them, 
I  should  have  allowed  this  exception.  It  would  have  stood,  I  think,  alone  in  the 
argument  of  our  adversaries.  But  beside  what  has  been  observed  of  the  dubious 
nature  of  the  miracles,  the  account  which  M.  Montgeron  has  himself  left  of  his 
conversion,  shows  both  the  state  of  his  mind,  and  that  his  persuasion  was  not  built 
upon  external  miracles.  '  Scarcely  had  he  entered  the  churchyard,  when  he  was 
struck,'  he  tells  us,  '  with  awe  and  reverence,  having  never  before  heard  prayers 
pronounced  with  so  much  ardor  and  transport  as  he  observed  among  the  suppli- 
cants at  the  tomb.  Upon  this,  throwing  himself  on  his  knees,  resting  his  elbows 
on  the  tombstone,  and  covering  his  face  with  his  hands,  he  spake  the  following 
prayer  :  0  thou,  by  rvhose  intercession  so  many  miracles  are  said  to  be  performed,  if  it  be 
true,  that  a  part  of  thee  surviveth  the  grave,  and  that  thou  hast  influence  with  the  Almighty, 
JiavepUy  on  the  darkness  of  my  understanding,  and  through  his  mercy  obtain  the  removal  of 
it.'  Having  prayed  thus,  'many  thoughts,'  as  he  saith,  'began  to  open  them- 
selves to  his  mind  ;  and  so  profound  was  his  attention  that  he  continued  on  his 
knees  four  hours,  not  in  the  least  disturbed  by  the  vast  crowd  of  surrounding 
supplicants.  During  this  time  all  the  arguments  which  he  had  ever  heard  or 
read  in  favor  of  Christianity  occurred  to  him  with  so  much  force,  and  seemed  to 
him  so  strong  and  convincing,  that  he  went  home  fully  satisfied  of  the  truth  of 
religion  in  general,  and  of  the  holiness  and  power  of  that  person,  who,'  as  he 
supposed,  '  had  engaged  the  divine  goodness  to  enlighten  his  understanding  so 
suddenly.'— Douglas,  Crit.  of  Mir   p.  214. 


PART  II. 

OF  THE  AUXILIARY   EVIDENCES  OF  CHRISTIANITY. 


CHAPTER    I. 

Prophecy. 

ISAIAH  lii.  13,  liii.  '  Behold,  my  servant  shall  deal  pru- 
dently, he  shall  be  exalted,  and  extolled,  and  be  very  high. 
As  many  were  astonished  at  thee ;  his  visage  was  so  marred 
more  than  any  man,  and  his  form  more  than  the  sons  of  men  : 
so  shall  he  sprinkle  many  nations ;  the  kings  shall  shut  their 
mouths  at  him;  for  that  which  had  not  been  told  them  shall 
they  see ;  and  that  which  they  had  not  heard  shall  they  con- 
sider. Who  hath  believed  our  report?  and  to  whom  is  the 
arm  of  the  Lord  revealed  ?  For  he  shall  grow  up  before  hjm 
as  a  tender  plant,  and  as  a  root  out  of  a  dry  ground ;  he  hath 
no  form  nor  comeliness ;  and  when  we  shall  see  him,  there  is 
no  beauty  that  we  should  desire  him.  He  is  despised  and 
rejected  of  men,  a  man  of  sorrows,  and  acquainted  with  grief: 
and  we  hid,  as  it  were,  our  faces  from  him ;  he  was  despised, 
and  we  esteemed  him  not.  Surely  he  hath  borne  our  griefs, 
and  carried  our  sorrows :  yet  we  did  esteem  him  stricken, 
smitten  of  God,  and  afflicted.  But  he  was  wounded  for  our 
transgressions,  he  was  bruised  for  our  iniquities :  the  chastise- 
ment of  our  peace  was  upon  him ;  and  with  his  stripes  we  are 
healed.  All  we  like  sheep  have  gone  astray ;  we  have  turned 
every  one  to  his  own  way ;  and  the  Lord  hath  laid  on  him  the 
iniquity  of  us  all.  He  was  oppressed,  and  he  was  afflicted,  yet 
he  opened  not  his  mouth :  he  is  brought  as  a  lamb  to  the 
slaughter,  and  as  a  sheep  before  her  shearers  is  dumb,  so 
he  opened  not  his  mouth.  He  was  taken  from  prison  and  from 
judgment;  and  who  shall  declare  his  generation?  for  he  was 
cut  off  out  of  the  land  of  the  living:  for  the  transgression  of 
my  people  was  he  stricken.  And  he  made  his  grave  with  the 
wicked,  and  with  the  rich  in  his  death ;  because  he  had  done 


Chap.  L]  Prophecy.  209 

no  violence,  neither  was  any  deceit  in  his  month.  Yet  it 
pleased  the  Lord  to  bruise  him ;  he  hath  put  him  to  grief. 
When  thou  shalt  make  his  sonl  an  offering  for  sin,  he  shall  see 
his  seed,  he  shall  prolong  his  days,  and  the  pleasure  of  the 
Lord  shall  prosper  in  his  hand.  He  shall  see  of  the  travail  of 
his  sonl,  and  shall  be  satisfied  :  by  his  knowledge  shall  my 
righteous  servant  justify  many;  for  he  shall  bear  their  iniqui- 
ties. Therefore  will  I  divide  him  a  portion  with  the  great, 
and  he  shall  divide  the  spoil  with  the  strong ;  because  he  hath 
poured  out  his  soul  unto  death  :  and  he  was  numbered  with 
the  transgressors  ;  and  he  bare  the  sin  of  many,  and  made  in- 
tercession for  the  transgressors.' 

These  words  are  extant  in  a  book,  purporting  to  contain  the 
predictions  of  a  writer  who  lived  seven  centuries  before  the 
Christian  era. 

That  material  part  of  every  argument  from  prophecy,  namely, 
that  the  words  alleged  were  actually  spoken  or  written  before 
the  fact  to  which  they  are  applied  took  place,  or  could  by  any 
natural  means  be  foreseen,  is,  in  the  present  instance,  incon- 
testable. The  record  comes  out  of  the  custody  of  adversaries. 
The  Jews,  as  an  ancient  father  well  observed,  are  our  librarians. 
The  passage  is  in  their  copies  as  well  as  in  ours.  With  many 
attempts  to  explain  it  away,  none  has  ever  been  made  by  them 
to  discredit  its  authenticity. 

And,  what  adds  to  the  force  of  the  quotation  is,  that  it  is 
taken  from  a  writing  declaredly  prophetic  /  a  writing,  professing 
to  describe  such  future  transactions  and  changes  in  the  world 
as  were  connected  with  the  fate  and  interests  of  the  Jewish 
nation.  It  is  not  a  passage  in  an  historical  or  devotional  com- 
position, which,  because  it  turns  out  to  be  applicable  to  some 
future  events,  or  to  some  future  situation  of  affairs,  is  presumed 
to  have  been  oracular.  The  words  of  Isaiah  were  delivered  by 
him  in  a  prophetic  character,  with  the  solemnity  belonging  to 
that  character  ;  and  what  he  so  delivered,  was  all  along  under- 
stood by  the  Jewish  reader  to  refer  to  something  that  was  to 
take  place  after  the  time  of  the  author.  The  public  sentiments 
of  the  Jews,  concerning  the  design  of  Isaiah's  writings,  are 
set  forth  in  the  book  of  Ecclesiasticus  :  '  He  saw,  by  an  excel- 
lent spirit,  what  should  come  to  pass  at  the  last,  and  he  com- 
forted them  that  mourned  in  Sion.     He  showed  what  should 

14 


210  Evidences  of  Christianity.  [Part  II. 

come  to  pass  forever,  and  secret  things  or  ever  they  came.' — 
(Chap,  xlviii.  ver.  24.) 

It  is  also  an  advantage  which  this  prophecy  possesses,  that 
it  is  intermixed  with  no  other  subject.  It  is  entire,  separate, 
and  uninterruptedly  directed  to  one  scene  of  things. 

The  application  of  the  prophecy  to  the  evangelic  history  is 
plain  and  appropriate.     Here  is  no  double  sense  :  no  figurative 
language,  but  what  is  sufficiently  intelligible  to  every  reader  of 
every  country.     The  obscurities — by  which  I  mean  the  expres- 
sions that  require  a  knowledge  of  local  diction,  and  of  local 
allusion — are  few,  and  not  of  great  importance.     ]STor  have  I 
found  that  varieties  of  reading,  or  a  different  construing  of 
the  original,  produce  any  material  alteration  in  the  sense  of 
the  prophecy.     Compare  the  common  translation  with  that 
of  Bishop  Lowth,  and  the  difference  is  not  considerable.     So 
far  as  they  do  differ,  Bishop  Lowth's  corrections,  which  are  the 
faithful  result  of  an  accurate  examination,  bring  the  description 
nearer  to  the  New  Testament  history  than  it  was  before.     In 
the  fourth  verse  of  the  fifty-third  chapter,  what  our  Bible  ren- 
ders 'stricken,'  he  translates  'judicially  stricken:'  and  in  the 
eighth  verse,  the  clause  '  he  was  taken  from  prison  and  fr^m 
judgment,'  the  Bishop  gives,  'by  an  oppressive  judgment  he 
was  taken  off.'     The  next  words  to  these,  '  who  shall  declare 
his  generation  ?'  are  much  cleared  up  in  their  meaning  by  the 
Bishop's  version,  '  his  manner  of  life  who  would  declare  V  i.  e., 
who  would  stand  forth  in  his  defence  ?     The  former  part  of 
the  ninth  verse,  '  and  he  made  his  grave  with  the  wicked,  and 
with  the  rich  in  his  death,'  which  inverts  the  circumstances 
of  Christ's  passion,  the  Bishop  brings  out  in  an  order  perfectly 
agreeable  to  the  event ;  '  and  his  grave  was  appointed  with  the 
wicked,  but  with  the  rich  man  was  his  tomb.'     The  words  in 
the  eleventh  verse,  '  by  his  knowledge  shall  my  righteous  ser- 
vant justify  many,'  arc,  in  the  Bishop's  version,  'by  the  knowl- 
edge of  him  shall  my  righteous  servant  justify  many.' 

It  is  natural  to  inquire  what  turn  the  Jews  themselves  give 
to  this  prophecy.1  There  is  good  proof  that  the  ancient 
Rabbins  explained   it  of  their  expected  Messiah;2  but  their 

1  '  Vaticinium  hoc  Esaire  est  cavnificina  Babbinorum,  de  quo  aliqui  Judaei  mihi 
confessi  sunt,  Etabbinos,  suos  ex  propheticis  Bcripturis  facile  se  extricare  potuisse, 
tnodo  /:--,,,,/» tacuisset.' — Hulse,  Theol.  Jud.,  p.  318,  quoted  by  Poole  in  loc. 

-  Hulse,  Theol.  Jud.,  p.  430. 


Chap.  i.J  Prophecy.  211 

modern  expositors  concur,  I  think,  in  representing  it  as  a  descrip- 
tion of  the  calamitous  state  and  intended  restoration  of  the 
Jewish  people,  who  are  here,  as  they  say,  exibited  under  the 
character  of  a  single  person.  I  have  not  discovered  that  their 
exposition  rests  upon  any  critical  arguments,  or  upon  these  in 
any  other  than  a  very  minute  degree.  The  clause  in  the  ninth 
verse,  which  we  render '  for  the  transgression  of  my  people  was  he 
stricken,'  and  in  the  margin  '  was  the  stroke  upon  him,'  the  Jews 
read  '  for  the  transgression  of  my  people  was  the  stroke  upon 
tin  m?  And  what  they  allege  in  support  of  the  alteration  amounts 
only  to  this,  that  the  Hebrew  pronoun  is  capable  of  a  plural,  as 
well  as  of  a  singular  signification  :  that  is  to  say,  is  capable  of 
their  construction  as  well  as  ours.1  And  this  is  all  the  varia- 
tion contended  for :  the  rest  of  the  prophecy  they  read  as  we 
do.  The  probability,  therefore,  of  their  exposition  is  a  subject 
of  which  we  are  as  capable  of  judging  as  themselves.  This 
judgment  is  open  indeed  to  the  good  sense  of  every  attentive 

1  Bishop  Lovvth  adopts  in  this  place  the  reading  of  the  Seventy,  which  gives 
smitten  to  death,  '  for  the  transgression  of  my  people  was  he  smitten  to  death.' 
The  addition  of  the  words  '  to  death,'  makes  an  end  of  the  Jewish  interpretation  of 
the  clause.  And  the  authority,  upon  which  this  reading  (though  not  given  by  the 
present  Hebrew  text)  is  adopted,  Dr.  Kennicot  has  set  forth  by  an  argument,  not 
only  so  cogent,  but  so  clear  and  popular,  that  I  beg  leave  to  transcribe  the  sub- 
stance of  it  into  this  note.  '  Origen,  after  having  quoted  at  large  this  prophecy 
concerning  the  Messiah,  tells  us,  that  having  once  made  use  of  this  passage,  in  a 
dispute  against  some  that  were  accounted  wise  among  the  Jews,  one  of  them  re- 
plied, that  the  words  did  not  mean  one  man,  but  one  people,  the  Jews,  who  were 
smitten  of  God,  and  dispersed  among  the  Gentiles  for  their  conversion  ;  that  he 
then  urged  many  parts  of  this  prophecy,  to  show  the  absurdity  of  this  intepreta- 
tion,  and  that  he  seemed  to  press  them  the  hardest  by  this  sentence — '  for  the 
transgression  of  my  people  was  he  smitten  to  death.'  Now,  as  Origen,  the  author 
of  the  Hexapla,  must  have  understood  Hebrew,  we  cannot  suppose  that  he  would 
have  urged  this  last  text  as  so  decisive,  if  the  Greek  version  had  not  agreed  here 
with  the  Hebrew  text ;  nor  that  these  wise  Jews  would  have  been  at  all  distressed 
by  this  quotation,  unless  the  Hebrew  text  had  read  agreeably  to  the  words  'to 
death,'  on  which  the  argument  principally  depended  ;  for,  by  quoting  it  imme- 
diately, they  would  have  triumphed  over  him,  and  reprobated  his  Greek  version. 
This,  whenever  they  could  do  it,  was  their  constant  practice  in  their  disputes  with 
the  Christians.  Origen  himself,  who  laboriously  compared  the  Hebrew  text  with 
the  Septuagint,  has  recorded  the  necessity  of  arguing  with  the  Jews,  from  such 
passages  only,  as  were  in  the  Septuagint  agreeable  to  the  Hebrew.  Wherefore,  as 
Origen  had  carefully  compared  the  Greek  version  of  the  Septuagint  with  the 
Hebrew  text ;  and  as  he  puzzled  and  confounded  the  learned  Jews  by  urging  upon 
them  the  reading  '  to  death'  in  this  place  ;  it  seems  almost  impossible  not  to 
conclude,  both  from  Origen's  argument,  and  the  silence  of  his  Jewish  adver- 
saries, that  the  Hebrew  text  at  that  time  actually  had  the  word  agreeably  to  the 
version  of  the  Seventy.' — Lowth's  Itaiah,  p.  242. 


212  Evidences  of  Christianity.  [Part  II. 

reader.  The  application  which  the  Jews  contended  for,  appears 
to  me  to  labor  under  insuperable  difficulties  ;  in  particular,  it 
may  be  demanded  of  them  to  explain,  in  whose  name  or  person, 
if  the  Jewish  people  be  the  sufferer,  does  the  prophet  speak, 
when  he  says,  '  he  hath  borne  our  griefs,  and  carried  our 
sorrows,  yet  we  did  esteem  him  stricken,  smitten  of  God  and 
afflicted  ;  but  he  was  wounded  for  our  transgressions,  he  was 
bruised  for  our  iniquities,  the  chastisement  of  our  peace  was 
upon  him,  and  with  his  stripes  we  are  healed.'  Again,  the 
description  in  the  seventh  verse,  '  he  was  oppressed  and  he  was 
afflicted,  yet  he  opened  not  his  mouth  ;  he  was  brought  as  a  lamb 
to  the  slaughter,  and  as  a  sheep  before  her  shearers  is  dumb,  so 
he  openeth  not  his  mouth,'  quadrates  with  no  part  of  the 
Jewish  history  with  which  we  are  acquainted.  The  mention  of 
the  '  grave,'  and  the  '  tomb,'  in  the  ninth  verse,  is  not  very 
applicable  to  the  fortunes  of  a  nation ;  and  still  less  so  is  the 
conclusion  of  the  prophecy  in  the  twelfth  verse,  which  ex- 
pressly represents  the  sufferings  as  voluntary,  and  the  sufferer 
as  interceding  for  the  offenders,  '  because  he  hath  poured  out 
his  soul  unto  death,  and  he  was  numbered  with  the  transgres- 
sors, and  he  bare  the  sin  of  many,  and  made  intercession  for 
the  transgressors.' 


There  are  other  prophecies  of  the  Old  Testament,  inter- 
preted by  Christians  to  relate  to  the  gospel  history,  which  are 
deserving  both  of  great  regard,  and  of  a  very  attentive  consid- 
eration :  but  I  content  myself  with  stating  the  above,  as  well 
because  I  think  it  the  clearest  and  the  strongest  of  all,  as 
because  most  of  the  rest,  in  order  that  their  value  be  repre- 
sented with  any  tolerable  degree  of  fidelity,  require  a  discus- 
sion unsuitable  to  the  limits  and  nature  of  this  work.  The 
reader  will  find  them  disposed  in  order,  and  distinctly  explained, 
in  Bishop  Chandler's  treatise  upon  the  subject:  and  he  will 
bear  in  mind,  what  has  been  often,  and,  I  think,  truly  urged 
by  the  advocates  of  Christianity,  that  there  is  no  other  emi- 
nent person,  to  the  history  of  whose  life  so  many  circumstan- 
ces can  be  made  to  apply.  They  who  object,  that  much  has 
been  done  by  the  power  of  chance,  the  ingenuity  of  accommo- 
dation, and  the  industry  of  research,  ought  to  try  whether  the 
same,  or  any  thing  like  it,  could  be  done,  if  Mahomet,  or  any 
other  person,  were  proposed  as  the  subject  of  Jewish  prophecy. 


Chap,  i.]  Prophecy.  213 

II.  A  second  head  of  argument  from  prophecy  is  founded 
upon  our  Lord's  predictions  concerning  the  destruction  of  Jeru- 
salem, recorded  by  three  out  of  the  four  evangelists. 

Luke  xxi.  5-25.  '  And  as  some  spake  of  the  temple,  how 
it  was  adorned  with  goodly  stones  and  gifts,  he  said,  As  for 
these  things  which  ye  behold,  the  days  will  come,  in  the 
which  there  shall  not  be  left  one  stone  upon  another,  that 
shall  not  be  thrown  down.  And  they  asked  him,  saying, 
Master,  but  when  shall  these  things  be  ?  and  what  sign  shall 
there  be  when  these  things  shall  come  to  pass  ?  And  he  said, 
Take  heed  that  ye  be  not  deceived,  for  many  shall  come  in  my 
name  saying,  I  am  Christ ;  and  the  time  draweth  near.  Go 
ye  not  therefore  after  them.  But,  when  ye  shall  hear  of  wars 
and  commotions,  be  not  terrified  ;  for  these  things  must  first 
come  to  pass,  but  the  end  is  not  by  and  by.  Then  said  he 
unto  them,  Nation  shall  rise  against  nation,  and  kingdom 
against  kingdom,  and  great  earthquakes  shall  be  in  divers 
places,  and  famines  and  pestilences :  and  fearful  sights,  and 
great  signs  shall  there  be  from  heaven.  But  before  all  these, 
they  shall  lay  their  hands  on  you,  and  persecute  you,  deliver- 
ing you  up  to  the  synagogues,  and  into  prisons,  being  brought 
before  kings  and  rulers  for  my  name's  sake.  And  it  shall 
turn  to  you  for  a  testimony.  Settle  it  therefore  in  your  hearts, 
not  to  meditate  before  what  ye  shall  answer  ;  for  I  will  give 
you  a  mouth  and  wisdom,  which  all  your  adversaries  shall 
not  be  able  to  gainsay  nor  resist.  And  ye  shall  be  betrayed 
both  by  parents  and  brethren,  and  kinsfolk  and  friends ;  and 
some  of  you  shall  they  cause  to  be  put  to  death.  And  ye 
shall  be  hated  of  all  men  for  my  name's  sake.  But  there 
shall  not  an  hair  of  your  head  perish.  In  your  patience 
possess  ye  your  souls.  And  when  ye  shall  see  Jerusalem  com- 
passed with  armies,  then  know  that  the  desolation  thereof  is 
nigh.  Then  let  them  which  are  in  Judea  flee  to  the  moun- 
tains ;  and  let  them  which  are  in  the  midst  of  it  depart  out ; 
and  let  not  them  that  are  in  the  countries  enter  thereinto. 
For  these  be  the  days  of  vengeance,  that  all  things  which  are 
written  may  be  fulfilled.  But  woe  unto  them  that  are  with 
child,  and  to  them  that  give  suck,  in  those  days  ;  for  there 
shall  be  great  distress  in  the  land,  and  wrath  upon  this  people. 
And  they  shall  fall  by  the  edge  of  the  sword,  and  shall  be  led 


214  Evidences  of  Christianity.  [Part  IT. 

away  captive  into  all  nations  ;  and  Jerusalem  shall  be  trodden 
down  of  the  Gentiles,  until  the  time  of  the  Gentiles  be  fulfilled.' 

In  terms  nearly  similar,  this  discourse  is  related  in  the  24th 
chapter  of  Matthew,  and  the  13th  of  Mark.  The  prospect  of 
the  same  evils  drew  from  our  Saviour,  upon  another  occasion, 
the  following  affecting  expressions  of  concern,  which  are  pre- 
served by  St.  Luke  [xix.  41]  :  '  And  when  he  was  come  near, 
he  beheld  the  city,  and  wept  over  it,  saying,  If  thou  hadst 
known,  even  thou,  at  least  in  this  thy  day,  the  things  which 
belong  unto  thy  peace ;  but  now  they  are  hid  from  thine 
eyes,  for  the  days  shall  come  upon  thee,  that  thine  enemies 
shall  cast  a  trench  about  thee,  and  compass  thee  round,  and 
keep  thee  in  on  every  side,  and  shall  lay  thee  even  with  the 
ground,  and  thy  children  within  thee,  and  they  shall  not  leave 
in  thee  one  stone  upon  another,  because  thou  knewest  not  the 
time  of  thy  visitation.'  These  passages  are  direct  and  explicit 
predictions.  References  to  the  same  event — some  plain,  some 
parabolical,  or  otherwise  figurative — are  found  in  divers  other 
discourses  of  our  Lord.1 

The  general  agreement  of  the  description  with  the  event, 
viz.,  with  the  ruin  of  the  Jewish  nation,  and  the  capture  ol 
Jerusalem  under  Yespasian,  thirty-six  years  after  Christ's 
death,  is  most  evident ;  and  the  accordancy  in  various  articles 
of  detail  and  circumstance  has  been  shown  by  many  learned 
writers.  It  is  also  an  advantage  to  the  inquiry,  and  to  the 
argument  built  upon  it,  that  we  have  received  a  copious 
account  of  the  transaction  from  Josephus,  a  Jewish  and  con- 
temporary historian.  This  part  of  the  case  is  perfectly  free 
from  doubt.  The  only  question  which,  in  my  opinion,  can  be 
raised  upon  the  subject,  is,  whether  the  prophecy  was  really 
delivered  he/ore  the  event,  I  shall  apply,  therefore,  my  ob- 
servations to  this  point  solely. 

1.  The  judgment  of  antiquity,  though  varying  in  the  precise 
year  of  the  publication  of  the  three  Gospels,  co?icws  in  assign- 
ing them  a  date  prior  to  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem.2 

2.  This  judgment    is   confirmed   by    a   strong   probability 


1  Matt,  xxi.  33-46;    xxii  1-7;    Mark  xii.  1-12;   Luke  xiii.  1-9;   xx.  9-20; 
xxi.  5-13. 

'  Lardner,  vol.  xiii. 


Chap.  i.J  Prophecy.  215 

arising  from  the  course  of  human  life.  The  destruction  of 
Jerusalem  took  place  in  the  seventieth  year  after  the  birth  of 
Christ.  The  three  evangelists,  one  of  whom  was  his  immediate 
companion,  and  the  other  two  associated  with  his  companions, 
were,  it  is  probable,  not  much  younger  than  lie  was.  They 
must,  consequently,  have  been  far  advanced  in  life  when  Jeru- 
salem was  taken ;  and  no  reason  has  been  given  why  they 
should  defer  writing  their  histories  so  long. 

3.  If  the  evangelists,1  at  the  time  of  writing  the  gospels,  had 
known  of  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem,  by  which  catastrophe 
the  prophecies  were  plainly  fulfilled,  it  is  most  probable,  that, 
in  recording  the  predictions,  they  would  have  dropped  some 
word  or  other  about  the  completion ;  in  like  manner  as  Luke, 
after  relating  the  denunciation  of  a  dearth  by  Agabus,  adds, 
'  which  came  to  pass  in  the  days  of  Claudius  Csesar  :'2  whereas 
the  prophecies  are  given  distinctly  in  one  chapter  of  each  of 
the  three  first  gospels,  and  referred  to  in  several  different  pas- 
sages of  each,  and,  in  none  of  all  these  places,  does  there  appear 
the  smallest  intimation  that  the  things  spoken  of  were  come  to 
pass.  I  do  admit  that  it  would  have  been  the  part  of  an  im- 
postor, who  wished  his  readers  to  believe  that  his  book  was 
written  before  the  event,  when  in  truth  it  was  written  after  it, 
to  have  suppressed  any  such  intimation  carefully.  But  this 
was  not  the  character  of  the  authors  of  the  gospel.  Cunning 
was  no  quality  of  theirs.  Of  all  writers  in  the  world,  they 
thought  the  least  of  providing  against  objections.  Moreover, 
there  is  no  clause  in  any  one  of  them,  that  makes  a  profession 
of  having  written  prior  to  the  Jewish  wars,  which  a  fraudulent 
purpose  would  have  led  them  to  pretend.  They  have  done 
neither  one  thing  nor  the  other.  They  have  neither  inserted 
any  words,  which  might  signify  to  the  reader  that  their 
accounts  were  written  before  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem, 
which  a  sophist  would  have  done  ;  nor  have  they  dropped  a 
hint  of  the  completion  of  the  prophecies  recorded  by  them, 
wdiich  an  undesigning  writer,  writing  after  the  event,  could 
hardly,  on  some  or  other  of  the  many  occasions  that  presented 
themselves,  have  missed  of  doing. 


>  Le  Clerc,  Diff.  HI.  de  Quat.  Ev.  num.  vii.  p.  541.  *  Acts  xi.  28. 


216  Evidences  of  Christianity.  [Part  II. 

4.  The  admonitions1  which  Christ  is  represented  to  have 
given  to  his  followers  to  save  themselves  by  flight,  are  not  easily 
accounted  for  upon  the  supposition  of  the  prophecy  being  fab- 
ricated after  the  event.  Either  the  Christians,  when  the  siege 
approached,  did  make  their  escape  from  Jerusalem,  or  they  did 
not:  if  they  did,  they  must  have  had  the  prophecy  amongst 
them :  if  they  did  not  know  of  any  such  prediction  at  the  time 
of  the  siege,  if  they  did  not  take  notice  of  any  such  warning, 
it  was  an  improbable  fiction,  in  a  writer  publishing  his  work 
near  to  that  time  (which,  upon  any  even  the  lowest  and  most 
disadvantageous  supposition,  was  the  case  with  the  gospels  now 
in  our  hands)  and  addressing  his  work  to  Jews  and  to  Jewish 
converts  (which  Matthew  certainly  did),  to  state  that  the  fol- 
lowers of  Christ  had  received  admonitions,  of  which  they  made 
no  use  when  the  occasion  arrived,  and  of  which,  experience 
then  recent  proved,  that  those,  who  were  most  concerned  to 
know  and  regard  them,  were  ignorant  or  negligent.  Even  if 
the  prophecies  came  to  the  hands  of  the  evangelists  through  no 
better  vehicle  than  tradition,  it  must  have  been  by  a  tradition 
which  subsisted  prior  to  the  event.  And  to  suppose,  that 
without  any  authority  whatever,  without  so  much  as  even  a^iy 
tradition  to  guide  them,  they  had  forged  these  passages,  is  to 
impute  to  them  a  degree  of  fraud  and  imposture,  from  every 
appearance  of  which  their  compositions  are  as  far  removed  as 
possible. 

5.  I  think  that,  if  the  prophecies  had  been  composed  after 
the  event,  there  would  have  been  more  specification.  The 
names  or  descriptions  of  the  enemy,  the  general,  the  emperor, 
would  have  been  found  in  them.  The  designation  of  the  time 
would  have  been  more  determinate.  And  I  am  fortified  in 
this  opinion  by  observing,  that  the  counterfeited  prophecies  of 
the  Sibylline  oracles,  of  the  twelve  patriarchs,  and,  I  am  in- 


'  Luke  xxi.  20,  21.  'When  ye  shall  see  Jerusalem  compassed  with  armies, 
then  know  that  the  desolation  thereof  is  nigh  ;  then  let  them  which  are  in  Judea 
flee  to  the  mountains,  and  let  them  whirl)  arc  in  the  midst  of  it  depart  out,  and 
let  not  them  that  are  in  the  countries  enter  thereinto.' 

Matt.  xiv.  18.  'When  ye  shall  see  Jerusalem  compassed  with  armies,  then 
lei  them  which  be  in  Judea  lice  unto  the  mountains ;  let  him  which  is  on  the 
house-top  not  come  down  to  take  any  thing  out  <>f  his  house,  neither  let  him 
which  is  in  the  held  return  hack  to  take  his  clothes.' 


Chap,  i.]  Annotations.  217 

clined  to  believe,  most  others  of  the  kind,  are  mere  transcripts 
of  the  history,  moulded  into  a  prophetic  form. 

It  is  objected  that  the  prophecy  of  the  destruction  of  Jeru- 
salem is  mixed,  or  connected,  with  expressions  which  relate  to 
the  final  judgment  of  the  world;  and  so  connected,  as  to  lead 
an  ordinary  reader  to  expect,  that  these  two  events  would  not 
be  far  distant  from  each  other.  To  which  I  answer,  that  the 
objection  does  not  concern  our  present  argument.  If  our 
Saviour  actually  foretold  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem,  it  is 
sufficient ;  even  although  wTe  should  allow,  that  the  narration  of 
the  prophecy  had  combined  together  what  had  been  said  by 
him  upon  kindred  subjects,  without  accurately  preserving  the 
order,  or  always  noticing  the  transition  of  the  discourse. 


ANNOTATIONS. 

It  is  important  to  keep  in  mind  that  there  are  fouk  points 
requisite  to  establish  the  claim  of  any  alleged  Prophecy  to  pro- 
ceed from  a  divine  revelation  : 

(1)  It  must  have  been  delivered  prior  to  the  event.1 

(2)  It  must  correspond  precisely  with  the  event ;  and  must 
not  be  in  such  vague  and  general  language  as  the  predictions 
in  vulgar  Almanacs  ;  that '  a  certain  great  personage  is  likely 
to  have  cause  for  uneasiness,'  &c. 

(3)  It  must  be  something  beyond  mere  human  sagacity. 
This  rule  precludes  the  predictions  of  eclipses,  &c. 

(4)  It  must  be  a  prediction  that  could  not  have  caused  its 
own  fulfilment,  by  suggesting  to  some  one  who  knew  of  it,  a 
corresponding  procedure. 

For  instance,  our  Lord's  riding  into  Jerusalem  in  the  manner 
that  had  been  foretold,  only  indicated  his  claiming  to  be  the 
Messiah,  but  did  not  establish  his  claim  ;  since  it  was  what  any 
one  could  have  done.  But  the  other  predictions  respecting 
Him  depended  for  their  accomplishment  on  his  adversaries,  or 
on  some  superhuman  power. 


1  Bacon,  in  his  Essay  on  Prophecies,  remarks  that  many  which  have  passed  for 
such,  were  probably  framed  after  the  event. 


218  Evidences  of  Christianity.  [Part  II. 

It  is  worth  remarking,  in  reference  to  this  subject,  that 
there  is  a  passage  in  the  2d  Epistle  of  Peter  which  seems  to 
represent  him  (through  an  error  in  our  Version)  as  attri- 
buting more  weight,  as  evidence,  to  Prophecies,  than  to  the 
miraculous  signs  of  which  he  had  been  eye-witness.  But  our 
Translators  did  not  well  understand  the  force  of  the  Greek 
Article  ;  an  attention  to  which  will  clearly  show  the  true  sense 
of  the  Original,  which  is,  'We  have  the  Word  of  Prophecy 
more  sure  ;'  i.  e.  made,  by  the  fulfilment  of  it,  more  clear  than 
when  it  was  uttered.1 

It  is  worth  remarking  also  that  the  passage  occurring  shortly 
after,  '  No  prophecy  of  Scripture  is  of  any  private  interpreta- 
tion,' does  not  express  the  sense  of  the  Original.2 

The  right  sense,  I  cannot  doubt,  of  the  whole  passage,  is, 
'  We  have  the  Word  of  Prophecy  confirmed'  [viz.,  by  the  event 
fulfilling  it] :  '  for  no  prophecy  is  to  be  interpreted  by  the  words 
themselves  in  which  it  is  written'  [ypa^rjg  id  lag'  emkvoeug]  (but 
by  the  event),  '  for  it  came  not  by  man's  device,'  [*.  <?.,  if  men 
had  been  left  to  their  own  judgment,  they  would  have  probably 
foretold  things  quite  plainly,]  '  but  as  they  were  moved  by  the 
Spirit  of  God'  [whose  decree  was,  that  the  clear  and  full  under- 
standing of  the  predictions  should  not  take  place  at  the  time 
when  they  were  uttered.] 

It  is  worth  observing,  too,  that  if  we  look  to  the  fulfilled 
prophecies  of  our  Lord's  comiiig,  they  were  obscure  and  doubtful 
tiU  they  were  fulfilled.  However  plain  they  may  appear  to  us 
now,  it  is  certain  that  the  whole,  or  very  near  the  whole,  of  the 
Jewi>li  people  mistook  their  meaning,  and  that  the  greater  part 
of  them  rejected  the  Christ  when  He  did  come,  precisely  be- 
came He  did  wot  fulfil  the  expectations  which  they  had  founded 
on  their  interpretation  of  the  prophecies.  Some  few,  very 
cautious  men,  among  them,  perhaps  said  within  themselves, 
'  God  has  promised  us  a  deliverer  ;  but  what  kind  of  a  deliverer 


1    ':x°fcv  PeffmiTtpov   Tbv   Trpo<pftTtK&v  \6ynv :    not    rbv   irpotprfTtKov  \6yov,  tov  (ic0nt6Tcpov, 

which  would  have  expressed  the  sense  of  onr  Version. 

3  The  Apostle  is  now  contrasting  prophecies  of  Holy  Scripture  with  any  othrr 
prophecies  :  nor  would  he,  had  such  been  his  meaning,  have  said  ypa<pni,  but 
(According  to  invariable  usage)  TIIS  ypatpT/f.  Doubtless  the  word  Mat  agrees,  not 
with  htXuacwi,  but  with  ypi'Pnf.  which  is  governed  by  hMoiux. 


Chap,  i.]  Annotations.  219 

he  will  be,  and  what  will  be  the  blessings  he  is  to  bring,  we 
cannot  clearly  see  ;  we  will  patiently  wait  the  event.' 

And  others  again  (like  most  of  the  disciples),  though  -they 
had  formed  expectations  of  a  temporal  Messiah,  yielded  humbly 
and  candidly  to  the  evidence  of  Christ's  miracles,  and  submit- 
ted to  learn  from  Him.  When  He  did  come,  then  a  practical 
question  arose.  Before  his  coming  there  was  nothing  to  be 
done,  in  consequence  of  interpreting  the  prophecies  this  way  or 
that.  But  when  a  person  appeared  who  was  supposed  to  be 
the  Christ,  then  it  became  a  duty  to  examine  his  claims,  and 
either  reject  Him  as  an  impious  impostor,  or  acknowledge 
and  submit  to  Him  as  from  heaven.  And  as  soon  as  men 
were  thus  called  on  to  act,  observe  what  a  blaze  of  light  is  be- 
stowed, in  contrast  to  the  faint  twilight  which  prevailed  before, 
when  nothing  practical  was  involved.  Jesus  wrought  such 
miracles  that  his  opponents  were  compelled  to  refer  them  to 
the  agency  of  demons.  None  but  the  obstinately  prejudiced 
could  have  any  doubt  of  his  divine  mission. 

And  this  is  just  of  a  piece  with  the  general  character  of 
God's  teaching.  Speculative  matters  are  touched  on  slightly 
and  obscurely  ;  but  practical  questions  are  made  plain  to  every 
candid  mind. 

The  prophecies  concerning  Christ's  coming  were,  before  He 
did  come,  very  obscure  ;  and  the  right  interpretation  of  them 
was  not  necessary  for  practice  :  after  He  was  come,  and  when 
they  were  fulfilled,  the  right  interpretation  of  them  became  a 
matter  of  the  highest  practical  importance  ;  and  then,  the 
event  made  them  clear  to  every  fair  inquirer. 

'  Out  LotoVs  predictions  concerning  the  destruction  of 

Jerusalem? 

It  is  a  most  remarkable  point  in  this  prophecy  and  its  ac- 
companying directions,  that  the  disciples  were  directed  to  fly, 
not  as  soon  as  the  war  should  break  out,  but  '  when  Jerusalem 
should  be  encompassed  with  armies  ;'  which  might  be  expected 
— humanly  speaking — to  intercept  their  flight. 

Now  how  stands  the  event  ?  The  Koman  army,  when  en- 
camped before  the  city,  was  seized  with  a  strange  and  sudden 
panic,  such  as  no  one  could  have  conjectured  ;  and  made  a 
hasty  retreat.     This  afforded  a  triumph  to  the  Jewish  warriors  ; 


220  Evidences  of  Christianity.  [Part  II. 

though  only  temporary,  as  the  llomans  soon  returned  ;  but  the 
interval  allowed  the  escape  of  the  Christians. 

And  this  proves — among  other  things — that  the  prophecy 
could  not  have  been  forged  after  the  event.  For  if  the  Chris- 
tians did — as  no  doubt  was  the  fact — conform  to  the  precept 
given,  this  could  have  been  only  in  consecpience  of  that  pre- 
cept ;  since  otherwise  their  conduct  in  doing  so  would  have 
been  unaccountable.  And  if  it  be  supposed  that  they  did  not 
adopt  that  course,  then,  a  forger  of  a  feigned  prophecy  would 
not  have  inserted  a  direction  that  had  not  been  complied 
with. 


CHAPTEE  II. 

The  Morality  of  the  Gospel. 


IX  stating  the  morality  of  the  Gospel  as  an  argument  of  its 
truth,  I  am  willing  to  admit  two  points  :  first,  that  the 
teaching  of  morality  was  not  the  primary  design  of  the  mission  ; 
secondly,  that  morality,  neither  in  the  Gospel,  nor  in  any  other 
book,  can  be  a  subject,  properly  speaking,  of  discovery. 

If  I  were  to  describe  in  a  very  few  words  the  scope  of  Chris- 
tianity, as  a  revelation?  I  should  say,  that  it  was  to  influence 
the  conduct  of  human  life,  by  establishing  the  proof  of  a  future 
state  of  reward  and  punishment — '  to  bring  life  and  immortality 
to  light.'  The  direct  object,  therefore,  of  the  design  is,  to  sup- 
ply motives,  and  not  rules;  sanctions,  and  not  precepts.     And 


1  Great  and  inestimably  beneficial  effects  may  accrue  from  the  mission  of  Christ, 
and  especially  from  his  death,  which  do  not  belong  to  Christianity  as  a  revelation  : 
that  is.  they  might  have  existed,  and  they  might  have  been  accomplished, 
though  we  had  never,  in  this  life,  been  made  acquainted  with  them.  These 
effects  may  be  very  extensive.  They  may  be  interesting  even  to  other  orders  of 
intelligent  Beings.  I  think  it  is  a  general  opinion,  and  one  to  which  I  have  long 
come,  that  the  beneficial  effects  of  Christ's  death  extend  to  the  whole  human 
species.  It  was  the  redemption  of  the  world.  'He  is  the  propitiation  for  our  sins, 
and  not  for  ours  only,  but  for  the  whole  world.'  1  John  ii.  '2.  Probably  the 
future  happiness,  perhaps  the  future  existence  of  the  species,  and  more  gracious 
tei  mis  of  acceptance  extended  to  all,  might  depend  upon  it.  or  be  procured  by  it. 
Now  these  effects,  whatever  they  he,  do  not  belong  to  Christianity  as  a  revelation  > 
because  they  exist  with  respect  to  those  to  whom  it  w  not  revealed. 


Chap,  ii.]  The  Morality  of  the  Gospel.  221 

these  were  what  mankind  stood  most  in  need  of.  The  members 
of  civilized  society  can,  in  all  ordinary  cases,  judge  tolerably 
well  how  they  ought  to  act ;  but  without  a  future  state,  or, 
which  is  the  same  thing,  without  credited  evidence  of  that  state, 
they  want  a  motive  to  their  duty  ;  they  want  at  least  strength 
of  motive,  sufficient  to  bear  up  against  the  force  of  passion,  and 
the  temptation  of  present  advantage.  Their  rules  want  autho- 
rity. The  most  important  service  that  can  be  rendered  to  hu- 
man life,  and  that,  consequently,  which,  one  might  expect  be- 
forehand, would  be  the  great  end  and  office  of  a  revelation 
from  God,  is  to  convey  to  the  world  authorized  assurances  of 
the  reality  of  a  future  existence.  And,  although  in  doing  this 
or  by  the  ministry  of  the  same  person  by  which  this  is  done, 
moral  precepts,  or  examples,  or  illustrations  of  moral  precepts, 
may  be  occasionally  given,  and  be  highly  valuable,  yet  still 
they  do  not  form  the  original  purpose  of  the  mission. 

Secondly,  morality,  neither  in  the  gospel,  nor  in  any  other 
book,  can  be  a  subject  of  discovery,  properly  so  called.  By 
which  proposition,  I  mean  that  there  cannot,  in  morality,  be 
any  thing  similar  to  what  are  called  discoveries  in  natural 
philosophy,  in  the  arts  of  life,  and  in  some  sciences  ;  as  the 
system  of  the  universe,  the  circulation  of  the  blood,  the  polarity 
of  the  magnet,  the  laws  of  gravitation,  alphabetical  writing, 
decimal  arithmetic,  and  some  other  things  of  the  same  sort ; 
facts,  or  proofs,  or  contrivances,  before  totally  unknown  and 
unthought  of.  Whoever  therefore  expects,  in  reading  the  New 
Testament,  to  be  struck  with  discoveries  in  morals,  in  the  man- 
ner in  which  his  mind  was  affected  when  he  first  came  to  the 
knowledge  of  the  discoveries  above  mentioned  ;  or  rather  in  the 
manner  in  which  the  world  was  affected  by  them,  when  they 
were  first  published  ;  expects  what,  as  I  apprehend,  the  nature 
of  the  subject  renders  it  impossible  that  he  should  meet  with. 
And  the  foundation  of  my  opinion  is  this,  that  the  qualities  of 
actions  depend  entirely  upon  their  effects,  which  effects  must 
all  along  have  been  the  subject  of  human  experience. 

When  it  is  once  settled,  no  matter  upon  what  principle,  that 
to  do  good  is  virtue,  the  rest  is  calculation.  But  since  the 
calculation  cannot  be  instituted  concerning  each  particular 
action,  we  establish  intermediate  rules  ;  by  which  proceeding, 
the  business  of  morality  is  much  facilitated,  for  then  it  is  con- 


222  Evidences  of  Christianity.  [Part  II. 

cerning  our  rules  alone  that  we  need  inquire,  whether  in  their 
tendency  they  be  beneficial  :  concerning  our  actions  we  have 
only  to  ask,  whether  they  be  agreeable  to  the  rules.  We  refer 
actions  to  rules,  and  rules  to  public  happiness.  Now,  in  the 
formation  of  these  rules,  there  is  no  place  for  discovery  prop- 
erly so  called,  but  there  is  ample  room  for  the  exercise  of  wis- 
dom, judgment,  and  prudence. 

As  I  wish  to  deliver  argument  rather  than  panegyric,  I  shall 
treat  of  the  morality  of  the  gospel,  in  subjection  to  these  ob- 
servations. And  after  all,  I  think  it  such  a  morality,  as,  con- 
sidering from  whom  it  came,  is  most  extraordinary  ;  and  such 
as,  without  allowing  some  degree  of  reality  to  the  character  and 
pretensions  of  the  religion,  it  is  difficult  to  account  for:  or,  to 
place  the  argument  a  little  lower  in  the  scale,  it  is  such  a 
morality  as  completely  repels  the  supposition  of  its  being  the 
tradition  of  a  barbarous  age  or  of  a  barbarous  people ;  of  the 
religion  being  founded  in  folly,  or  of  its  being  the  production 
of  craft :  and  it  repels  also,  in  a  great  degree,  the  supposition 
of  its  having  been  the  effusion  of  an  enthusiastic  mind. 

The  division,  under  which  the  subiect  may  be  most  cgn- 
veniently  treated  of,  is  that  of  the  things  taught,  and  the  man- 
ner of  teaching. 

Under  the  first  head,  I  should  willingly,  if  the  limits  and 
nature  of  my  work  admitted  of  it,  transcribe  into  this  chapter 
the  whole  of  what  has  been  said  upon  the  morality  of  the  gos- 
pel, by  the  author  of  The  Internal  Evidence  of  Christianity  : 
because  it  perfectly  agrees  with  my  own  opinion,  and  because 
it  is  impossible  to  say  the  same  things  so  well.  This  acute 
observer  of  human  nature,  and,  as  I  believe,  sincere  convert  to 
Christianity,  appears  to  me  to  have  made  out  satisfactorily  the 
two  following  positions,  viz. 

I.  That  the  gospel  omits  some  qualities,  which  have  usually 
engaged  the  praises  and  admiration  of  mankind,  but  which  in 
reality,  and  in  their  general  effects,  have  been  prejudicial  to 
human  happiness. 

II.  That  the  gospel  has  brought  forward  some  virtues,  which 
possess  the  highest  intrinsic  value,  but  which  have  commonly 
been  overlooked  and  contemned. 

The  first  of  these  propositions  he  exemplifies,  in  the  instances 
of  friendship,  patriotism,  active  courage;  in  the  sense  in  which 


Chap,  ii.]  The  Morality  of  the  Gospel.  223 

these  qualities  are  usually  understood,  and  in  the  conduct 
which  they  often  produce. 

The  second,  in  the  instances  of  passive  courage  or  endurance 
of  sufferings,  patience  under  affronts  and  injuries,  humility, 
irresistance,  placability. 

The  truth  is,  there  are  two  opposite  descriptions  of  character, 
under  which  mankind  may  generally  be  classed.  The  one  pos- 
sesses vigor,  firmness,  resolution  :  is  daring  and  active,  quick 
in  its  sensibilities,  jealous  of  its  fame,  eager  in  its  attachments, 
inflexible  in  its  purpose,  violent  in  its  resentments. 

The  other,  meek,  yielding,  complying,  forgiving ;  not  prompt 
to  act,  but  willing  to  suffer ;  silent  and  gentle  under  rudeness 
and  insult,  suing  for  reconciliation  where  others  would  demand 
satisfaction,  giving  way  to  the  pushes  of  impudence,  conceding 
and  indulgent  to  the  prejudices,  the  wrong-headedness,  the  in- 
tractability of  those  with  whom  it  has  to  deal. 

The  former  of  these  characters  is,  and  ever  hath  been,  the 
favorite  of  the  world.  It  is  the  character  of  great  men. 
There  is  a  dignity  in  it  which  universally  commands  respect. 

The  latter  is  poor-spirited,  tame,  and  abject.  Yet  so  it  hath 
happened,  that,  with  the  founder  of  Christianity,  this  latter  is 
the  subject  of  his  commendation,  his  precepts,  his  example ; 
and  that  the  former  is  so,  in  no  part  of  its  composition.  This, 
and  nothing  else,  is  the  character  designed  in  the  following  re- 
markable passages :  '  Resist  not  evil,  but  whosoever  shall  smite 
thee  on  the  right  cheek,  turn  to  him  the  other  also ;  and  if  any 
man  will  sue  thee  at  the  law,  and  take  away  thy  coat,  let  him 
have  thy  cloak  also ;  and  whosoever  shall  compel  thee  to  go  a 
mile,  go  with  him  twain  :  love  your  enemies,  bless  them  that 
curse  you,  do  good  to  them  that  hate  you,  and  pray  for  them 
which  despitefully  use  you  and  persecute  you.'  This  certainly 
is  not  common-place  morality.  It  is  very  original.  It  shows 
at  least  (and  it  is  for  this  purpose  we  produce  it)  that  no  two 
things  can  be  more  different  than  the  Heroic  and  the  Christian 
character. 

Now  the  author,  to  whom  I  refer,  has  not  only  remarked 
this  difference  more  s4rongly  than  any  preceding  writer,  but  has 
proved,  in  contradiction  to  first  impressions,  to  popular  opinion, 
to  the  encomiums  of  orators  and  poets,  and  even  to  the  suf- 
frages of  historians  and  moralists,  that    the    latter   character 


/ 


224  Evidences  of  Christianity.  [Part  II. 

possesses  the  most  of  true  worth,  both  as  being  most  difficult 
either  to  be  acquired  or  sustained,  and  as  contributing  most  to 
the  happiness  and  tranquillity  of  social  life.  The  state  of  his 
argument  is  as  follows  : 

I.  If  this  disposition  were  universal,  the  case  is  clear:  the 
world  would  be  a  society  of  friends.  Whereas,  if  the  other  dis- 
position were  universal,  it  would  produce  a  scene  of  universal 
contention.  The  world  could  not  hold  a  generation  of  such 
men. 

II.  If,  what  is  the  fact,  the  disposition  be  partial ;  if  a  few 
be  actuated  by  it,  amongst  a  multitude  who  are  not ;  in  what- 
ever degree  it  does  prevail,  in  the  same  proportion  it  prevents, 
allays,  and  terminates  quarrels,  the  great  disturbers  of  human 
happiness,  and  the  great  sources  of  human  misery,  so  far  as 
man's  happiness  and  misery  depend  upon  man.  Without  this 
disposition  enmities  must  not  only  be  frequent,  but  once  begun, 
must  be  eternal ;  for  each  retaliation  being  a  fresh  injury,  and, 
consequently,  requiring  a  fresh  satisfaction,  no  period  can  be 
assigned  to  the  reciprocation  of  affronts,  and  to  the  progress  of 
hatred,  but  that  which  closes  the  lives,  or  at  least  the  inter- 
course,  of  the  parties. 

I  would  only  add  to  these  observations,  that,  although  the 
former  of  the  two  characters  above  described  may  be  occasion- 
ally useful  ;  although,  perhaps,  a  great  general,  or  a  great 
statesman,  may  be  formed  by  it,  and  these  may  be  instruments 
of  important  benefits  to  mankind,  yet  is  this  nothing  more  than 
what  is  true  of  many  qualities,  which  are  acknowledged  to  be 
vicious.  Ehctj  is  a  quality  of  this  sort.  I  know  not  a  stronger 
stimulus  to  exertion.  Many  a  scholar,  many  an  artist,  many  a 
soldier  has  been  produced  by  it.  Nevertheless,  since  in  its 
general  effects  it  is  noxious,  it  is  properly  condemned,  certainly 
is  not  praised,  by  sober  moralists. 

It  was  a  portion  of  the  same  character  as  that  we  are  de- 
fending, or  rather  of  his  love  of  the  same  character,  which  our 
Saviour  displayed,  in  his  repeated  correction  of  the  ambition 
of  his  disciples;  his  frequent  admonitions,  that  greatness  with 
them  was  to  consist  in  humility  ;  his  censure  of  that  love  of 
distinction,  and  greediness  of  superiority,  which  the  chief  per- 
sons amongst  his  countrymen  were  wont,  on  all  occasions,  great 
and  little,  to  betray.     'They  [the  Scribes  and  Pharisees]  love 


Chap,  ii.]  The  Morality  of  the  Gospel.  225 

the  uppermost  rooms  of  feasts,  and  the  chief  seats  in  the  syna- 
gogues, and  greetings  in  the  markets,  and  to  be  called  of  men, 
Rabbi,  Rabbi.  But  be  not  ye  called  Rabbi,  for  one  is  your 
Master,  even  Christ,  and  all  ye  are  brethren  ;  and  call  no  man 
your  father  upon  the  earth,  for  one  is  your  Father,  which  is  in 
heaven  ;  neither  be  ye  called  masters,  for  one  is  your  Master, 
even  Christ;  but  he  that  is  greatest  among  you  shall  be  your 
servant,  and  whosoever  shall  exalt  himself  shall  be  abased,  and 
he  that  shall  humble  himself  shall  be  exalted.' *  I  make  no 
farther  remark  upon  these  passages  (because  they  are,  in  truth, 
only  a  repetition  of  the  doctrine,  different  expressions  of  the 
principle,  which  we  have  already  stated),  except  that  some  of 
the  passages,  especially  our  Lord's  advice  to  the  guests  at  an 
entertainment  (Luke  xiv.  7),  seem  to  extend  the  rule  to  what 
we  call  'manners  j  which  was  both  regular  in  point  of  consis- 
tency, and  not  so  much  beneath  the  dignity  of  our  Lord's 
mission  as  may  at  first  sight  be  supposed  ;  for  bad  manners  are 
bad  morals. 

It  is  sufficiently  apparent,  that  the  precepts  we  have  recited, 
or  rather  the  disposition  which  these  precepts  inculcate,  relate 
to  personal  conduct  from  personal  motives  ;  to  cases  in  which 
men  act  from  impulse,  for  themselves,  and  from  themselves. 
"When  it  comes  to  be  considered  what  is  necessary  to  be  done 
for  the  sake  of  the  public,  and  out  of  a  regard  to  the  general 
welfare  (which  consideration,  for  the  most  part,  ought  exclu- 
sively to  govern  the  duties  of  men  in  public  stations),  it  comes 
to  a  case  to  which  the  rules  do  not  belong.  This  distinction  is 
plain  ;  and,  if  it  were  less  so,  the  consequence  would  not  be 
much  felt,  for  it  is  very  seldom  that,  in  the  intercourse  of  pri- 
vate life,  men  act  with  public  views.  The  personal  motives, 
from  which  they  do  act,  the  rule  regulates. 

The  preference  of  the  patient  to  the  heroic  character,  which 
we  have  here  noticed,  and  which  the  reader  will  find  explained 
at  large  in  the  work  to  which  we  have  referred  him,  is  a  pecu- 
liarity in  the  christian  institution,  which  I  propose  as  an  argu- 
ment of  wisdom  very  much  beyond  the  situation  and  natural 
character  of  the  person  who  delivered  it. 

II.  A  second  argument,  drawn  from  the  morality  of  the  New 


1  Matt,  xxiii.  6 ;  see  also  Mark  xii.  29 ;  Luke  xx.  43,  xxiv.  7. 

15 


226  Evidences  of  Christianity.  [Part  II. 

Testament,  is  the  stress  which  is  laid  by  our  Saviour  upon  the 
regulation  of  the  thoughts.  And  I  place  this  consideration 
next  to  the  other,  because  they  are  connected.  The  other  re- 
lated to  the  malicious  passions ;  this  to  the  voluptuous.  Together 
they  comprehend  the  whole  character. 

'  Out  of  the  heart  proceed  evil  thoughts,  murders,  adulteries, 

fornications,  etc. These  are  the  things  which  defile  a  man.' 

— Matt.  xv.  19. 

'  Woe  unto  you  scribes  and  Pharisees,  hypocrites  !  for  ye 
make  clean  the  outside  of  the  cup  and  of  the  platter,  but 
within  they  are  full  of  extortion  and  excess. — Ye  are  like  unto 
whited  sepulchres,  which  indeed  appear  beautiful  outward,  but 
are  within  full  of  dead  men's  bones,  and  of  all  uncleanness ; 
even  so  ye  also  outwardly  appear  righteous  unto  men,  but 
within  ye  are  full  of  hypocrisy  and  iniquity.' — Matt,  xxiii 
25,  27,  2S. 

And  more  particularly  that  strong  expression  (Matt.  v.  28), 
1  Whosoever  looketh  on  a  woman,  to  lust  after  her,  hath  com- 
mitted adultery  with  her  already  in  his  heart' 

There  can  be  no  doubt  with  any  reflecting  mind,  but  that 
the  propensities  of  our  nature  must  be  subjected  to  regulation ; 
but  the  question  is,  where  the  check  ought  to  be  placed,  upon 
the  thought,  or  only  upon  action.  In  this  question,  our 
Saviour,  in  the  texts  here  quoted,  has  pronounced  a  decisive 
judgment.  He  makes  the  control  of  thought  essential.  In- 
ternal purity  with  him  is  everything.  Now  I  contend  that 
this  is  the  only  discipline  which  can  succeed  :  in  other  words, 
that  a  moral  system,  which  prohibits  actions,  but  leaves  the 
thoughts  at  libert}r,  will  be  ineffectual,  and  is  therefore  unwise. 
I  know  not  how  to  go  about  the  proof  of  a  point,  which  depends 
upon  experience,  and  upon  a  knowledge  of  the  human  consti- 
tution, better  than  by  citing  the  judgment  of  persons,  who 
appear  to  have  given  great  attention  to  the  subject,  and  to  be 
well  qualified  to  form  a  true  opinion  about  it.  Boerhaave, 
speaking  of  this  very  declaration  of  our  Saviour,  '  Whosoever 
looketh  on  a  woman  to  lust  after  her,  hath  already  committed 
adultery  with  her  in  his  heart,'  and  understanding  it,  as  we  do, 
to  contain  an  injunction  to  lay  the  check  upon  the  thoughts, 
was  wont  to  say,  that  '  our  Saviour  knew  mankind  better  than 
Socrates.'    Haller,  who  has  recorded  this  saying  of  Boerhaave's, 


Chap,  ii.]  The  Morality  of  the  Gospel.  227 

adds  to  it  the  following  remarks  of  his  own  ;'  '  It  did  not  escape 
the  observation  of  our  Saviour,  that  the  rejection  of  any  evil 
thoughts  was  the  best  defence  against  vice ;  for  when  a  de- 
bauched person  fills  his  imagination  with  impure  pictures,  the 
licentious  ideas  which  he  recalls,  fail  not  to  stimulate  his  desires 
with  a  degree  of  violence  which  he  cannot  resist.  This  will  be 
followed  by  gratification,  unless  some  external  obstacle  should 
prevent  him  from  the  commission  of  a  sin,  which  he  had  in- 
ternally resolved  on.'  '  Every  moment  of  time  [says  our  author] 
that  is  spent  in  meditations  upon  sin,  increases  the  power  of 
the  dangerous  object  which  has  possessed  our  imagination.'  I 
suppose  these  reflections  will  be  generally  assented  to. 

III.  Thirdly,  had  a  teacher  of  morality  been  asked  con- 
cerning a  general  principle  of  conduct,  and  for  a  short  rule  of 
life ;  and  had  he  instructed  the  person  who  consulted  him 
'  constantly  to  refer  his  actions  to  wdiat  he  believed  to  be  the 
will  of  his  Creator,  and  constantly  to  have  in  view,  not  his  own 
interest  and  gratification  alone,  but  the  happiness  and  comfort 
of  those  about  him,'  he  would  have  been  thought,  I  doubt  not, 
in  any  age  of  the  world,  and  in  any,  even  the  most  improved 
state  of  morals,  to  have  delivered  a  judicious  answer;  because, 
by  the  first  direction,  he  suggested  the  only  motive  which  acts 
steadily  and  uniformly,  in  sight  and  out  of  sight,  in  familiar 
occurrences  and  under  pressing  temptations  ;  and  in  the  second, 
he  corrected,  what,  of  all  tendencies  in  the  human  character, 
stands  most  in  need  of  correction,  selfishness,  or  a  contempt  of 
other  men's  conveniency  and  satisfaction.  In  estimating  the 
value  of  a  moral  rule,  we  are  to  have  regard,  not  only  to  the 
particular  duty,  but  the  general  spirit ;  not  only  to  what  it 
directs  us  to  do,  but  to  the  character  which  a  compliance  with 
its  direction  is  likely  to  form  in  us.  So,  in  the  present  in- 
stance, the  rule  here  recited  will  never  fail  to  make  him  who 
obeys  it  considerate,  not  only  of  the  rights,  but  of  the  feelings 
of  other  men,  bodily  and  mental,  in  great  matters  and  in  small ; 
of  the  ease,  the  accommodation,  the  self-complacency  of  all 
with  whom  he  has  any  concern,  especially  of  all  who  are  in  his 
power,  or  dependent  upon  his  will. 

Now  what,  in  the  most  applauded  philosopher  of  the  most 


1  Letter  to  his  Daughter. 


228  Evidences  of  Christianity.  [Part  II. 

enlightened  age  of  the  world,  would  have  been  deemed  worthy 
of  his  wisdom,  and  of  his  character,  to  say,  our  Saviour  hath  said, 
and  upon  just  such  an  occasion  as  that  which  we  have  feigned. 

'Then  one  of  them  which  was  a  lawyer,  asked  him  a  ques- 
tion, tempting  him,  and  saying,  Master,  which  is  the  great 
commandment  in  the  law?  Jesus  said  unto  him,  Thou  shalt 
love  the  Lord  thy  God  with  all  thy  heart,  and  with  all  thy  soul, 
and  with  all  thy  mind ;  this  is  the  first  and  great  commandment: 
and  the  second  is  like  unto  it,  Thou  shalt  love  thy  neighbour  as 
thyself:  on  these  two  commandments  hang  all  the  law  and  the 
prophets.' — Matt.  xxii.  35-40. 

The  second  precept  occurs  in  St.  Matthew,  on  another  occasion 
similar  to  this  [xix.  16],  and  both  of  them  upon  a  third  similar 
occasion  in  Luke  [x.  27].  In  these  two  latter  instances,  the 
question  proposed  was,  '  What  shall  I  do  to  inherit  eternal  life  V 

Upon  all  these  occasions,  I  consider  the  words  of  our  Saviour 
as  expressing  precisely  the  same  thing  as  what  I  have  put  into 
the  mouth  of  the  moral  philosopher.  Nor  do  I  think  that  it 
detracts  much  from  the  merit  of  the  answer,  that  these  pre- 
cepts are  extant  in  the  Mosaic  code  :  for  his  laying  his  finger, 
if  I  may  so  say,  upon  these  precepts  ;  his  drawing  then?  out 
from  the  rest  of  that  voluminous  institution  ;  his  statins-  of 
them,  not  simply  amongst  the  number,  but  as  the  greatest  and 
the  sum  of  all  the  others  ;  in  a  word,  his  proposing  of  them  to 
his  hearers  for  their  rule  and  principle,  was  our  Saviour's  own. 

And  what  our  Saviour  had  said  upon  the  subject,  appears  to 
me  to  have  fixed  the  sentiment  amongst  his  followers. 

St.  Paul  has  it  expressly,  '  If  there  be  any  other  command- 
ment, it  is  briefly  comprehended  in  this  saying,  Thou  shalt  love 
thy  neighbour  as  thyself  ;"  and  again,  '  For  all  the  law  is  ful- 
filled in  one  word,  even  in  this,  Thou  shalt  love  thy  neighbour 
as  thyself.''1 

St.  John,  in  like  manner,  '  This  commandment  have  we  from 
him,  that  he  who  loveth  God,  loveth  his  brother  also.'3 

St.  Peter,  not  very  differently,  '  Seeing  that  ye  have  purified 
your  souls  in  obeying  the  truth,  through  the  spirit,  unto  un- 
feigned love  of  the  brethren,  see  that  ye  love  one  another  with 
a  pure  heart  fervently.'4 


1  Rom.  xiiL  7.  4  GaL  v.  14  '  1  John  iv.  21.  4  1  Pet.  i.  22. 


Chap,  ii.]  The  Morality  of  the  Gospel.  229 

And  it  is  so  well  known,  as  to  require  no  citations  to  verify 
it,  that  this  love,  or  charity,  or,  in  other  words,  regard  to  the 
welfare  of  others,  runs  in  various  forms  through  all  the  pre- 
ceptive parts  of  the  apostolic  writings.  It  is  the  theme  of  all 
their  exhortations,  that  with  which  their  morality  begins  and 
ends,  from  which  all  their  details  and  enumerations  set  out,  and 
into  which  they  return. 

And  that  this  temper,  for  some  time  at  least,  descended  in 
its  purity  to  succeeding  Christians,  is  attested  by  one  of  the 
earliest  and  best  of  the  remaining  writings  of  the  apostolical 
fathers,  the  epistle  of  the  Roman  Clement.  The  meekness  of 
the  christian  character  reigns  throughout  the  whole  of  that 
excellent  piece.  The  occasion  called  for  it.  It  was  to  com- 
pose the  dissensions  of  the  church  of  Corinth.  And  the  vene- 
rable hearer  of  the  apostles  does  not  fall  short,  in  the  display 
of  this  principle,  of  the  finest  passages  of  their  writings.  He 
calls  to  the  remembrance  of  the  Corinthian  church  its  former 
character,  in  which  '  ye  were  all  of  you  [he  tells  them]  humble- 
minded,  not  boasting  of  anything,  desiring  rather  to  be  sub- 
ject than  to  govern,  to  give  than  to  receive,  being  content 
with  the  portion  God  had  dispensed  to  you,  and  hearkening 
diligently  to  his  word  ;  ye  were  enlarged  in  your  bowels,  having 
his  sufferings  always  before  your  eyes.  Ye  contended  day  and 
night  for  the  whole  brotherhood,  that  with  compassion  and  a 
good  conscience  the  number  of  his  elect  might  be  saved.  Ye 
were  sincere,  and  without  offence,  towards  each  other.  Ye 
bewailed  every  one  his  neighbour's  sins,  esteeming  their  defects 
your  own.'1  His  prayer  for  them  was  for  the  '  return  of  peace, 
long  suffering,  and  patience.'2  And  his  advice  to  those,  who 
might  have  been  the  occasion  of  difference  in  the  society,  is 
conceived  in  the  true  spirit,  and  with  a  perfect  knowledge  of 
the  christian  character.  '  Who  is  there  among  you  that  is  gene- 
rous ?  Who  that  is  compassionate  ?  Who  that  has  any  charity  ? 
Let  him  say,  if  this  sedition,  this  contention,  and  these  schisms, 
be  upon  my  account,  I  am  ready  to  depart,  to  go  away  whither- 
soever ye  please,  and  do  whatsoever  ye  shall  command  me,  only 
let  the  flock  of  Christ  be  in  peace,  with  the  elders  who  are  set 
over  it.     He  that  shall  do  this,  shall  get  to  himself  a  very  great 


1  Ep.  Clem.  Rom.  c.  2  ;  Abp.  Wake's  Translation.  2  Ibid.  c.  58. 


230  Evidences  of  Christianity.  [Part  II. 

honour  in  the  Lord  ;  and  there  is  no  place  but  what  will  be 
ready  to  receive  him,  for  the  earth  is  the  Lord's  and  the  ful- 
ness thereof.  These  things  they,  who  have  their  conversation 
towards  God,  not  to  be  repented  of,  both  have  done,  and  will 
always  be  ready  to  do.'1 

This  sacred  principle,  this  earnest  recommendation  of  for- 
bearance, lenity,  and  forgiveness,  mixes  with  all  the  writings 
of  that  age.  There  are  more  quotations  in  the  apostolical 
fathers,  of  texts  which  relate  to  these  points,  than  of  any  other. 
Christ's  sayings  had  struck  them.  '  Not  rendering  [said  Poly- 
carp,  the  disciple  of  John]  evil  for  evil,  or  railing  for  railing, 
or  striking  for  striking,  or  cursing  for  cursing.'2  Again,  speak- 
ing of  some  whose  behaviour  had  given  great  offence,  '  Be  ye 
moderate  [says  he]  upon  this  occasion,  and  look  not  upon  such  as 
enemies,  but  call  them  back  as  suffering  and  erring  members, 
that  ye  save  your  whole  body.'3 

'  Be  ye  mild  at  their  anger  [saith  Ignatius,  the  companion 
of  Poly  carp],  humble  at  their  boastings,  to  their  blasphemies 
return  your  prayers,  to  their  error  your  firmness  in  the  faith  ; 
when  they  are  cruel,  be  ye  gentle:  not  endeavouring^  to 
imitate  their  ways,  let  us  be  their  brethren  in  all  kindness  and 
moderation  ;  but  let  us  be  followers  of  the  Lord,  for  who  was 
ever  more  unjustly  used,  more  destitute,  more  despised?' 

IY.  A  fourth  quality,  by  which  the  morality  of  the  gospel  is 
distinguished,  is  the  exclusion  of  regard  to  fame  and  reputation. 

'  Take  heed  that  ye  do  not  your  alms  before  men,  to  be  seen 
of  them,  otherwise  ye  have  no  reward  of  your  Father  which  is 
in  heaven.'4 

'When  thou  prayest,  enter  into  thy  closet,  and  when  thou 
hast  shut  the  door,  pray  to  thy  Father  which  is  in  secret ;  and 
thy  Father,  which  seeth  in  secret,  shall  reward  thee  openly.'6 

And  the  rule,  by  parity  of  reason,  is  extended  to  all  other 
virtues. 

I  do  not  think,  that  either  in  these,  or  in  any  other  passage 
of  the  New  Testament,  the  pursuit  of  fame  is  stated  as  a  vice ; 
it  is  only  said  that  an  action,  to  be  virtuous,  must  be  indepen- 
dent of  it.  I  would  also  observe,  that  it  is  not  publicity,  but 
ostentation,  which  is  prohibited  ;  not  the  mode,  but  the  motive, 

1  Ep.  Clem.  Rom.  c.  54.  «  Pol.  Ep.  ad  Phi!,  c.  2 

3  Pol.  Ep.  ad  Phil.  c.  11.  *  Matt,  vi   1.  »  Matt,  vi.  6. 


Chap,  ii.]  The  Morality  of  the  Gospel.  231 

of  the  action,  which  is  regulated.  A  good  man  will  prefer  that 
mode,  as  well  as  those  objects  of  his  beneficence,  by  which  he 
can  produce  the  greatest  effect ;  and  the  view  of  this  purpose 
may  dictate  sometimes  publication,  and  sometimes  concealment. 
Either  the  one  or  the  other  may  be  the  mode  of  the  action, 
according  as  the  end  to  be  promoted  by  it  appears  to  require. 
But  from  the  motive,  the  reputation  of  the  deed,  and  the  fruits 
and  advantage  of  that  reputation  to  ourselves,  must  be  shut 
out,  or,  in  whatever  proportion  they  are  not  so,  the  action  in 
that  proportion  fails  of  being  virtuous. 

This  exclusion  of  regard  to  human  opinion,  is  a  difference, 
not  so  much  in  the  duties,  to  which  the  teachers  of  virtue  would 
persuade  mankind,  as  in  the  manner  and  topics  of  persuasion. 
And  in  this  view  the  difference  is  great.  When  we  set  about  to 
give  advice,  our  lectures  are  full  of  the  advantages  of  character, 
of  the  regard  that  is  due  to  appearances  and  to  opinion  ;  of  what 
the  world,  especially  of  what  the  good  or  great,  will  think  and 
say ;  of  the  value  of  public  esteem,  and  of  the  qualities  by  which 
men  acquire  it.  Widely  different  from  this  was  our  Saviour's  in- 
struction ;  and  the  difference  was  founded  upon  the  best  reasons. 
For,  however  the  care  of  reputation,  the  authority  of  public 
opinion,  or  even  of  the  opinion  of  good  men,  the  satisfaction  of 
being  well  received  and  well  thought  of,  the  benefit  of  being 
known  and  distinguished,  are  topics  to  which  we  are  fain  to 
have  recourse  in  our  exhortations,  the  true  virtue  is  that  which 
discards  these  considerations  absolutely,  and  which  retires  from 
them  all  to  the  single  internal  purpose  of  pleasing  God.  This 
at  least  was  the  virtue  which  our  Saviour  taught.  And  in 
teaching  of  this,  he  not  only  confined  the  views  of  his  followers 
to  the  proper  measure  and  principle  of  human  duty,  but  acted 
in  consistency  with  his  office  as  a  monitor  from  heaven. 


Next  to  what  our  Saviour  taught,  may  be  considered  the 
manner  of  his  teaching ;  which  was  extremely  peculiar,  yet,  I 
think,  precisely  adapted  to  the  peculiarity  of  his  character  and 
situation.  His  lessons  did  not  consist  of  disquisitions  ;  of  any- 
thing like  moral  essays,  or  like  sermons,  or  like  set  treatises  upon 
the  several  points  which  he  mentioned.  When  he  delivered 
a  precept,  it  was  seldom  that  he  added  any  proof  or  argument; 
still  seldomer,  that  he  accompanied  it  with,  what  all  precepts 


232  Evidences  of  Christianity.  [Part  II. 

require,  limitations  and  distinctions.  His  instructions  were 
conceived  in  short  emphatic  sententious  rules,  in  occasional  re- 
flections, or  in  round  maxims.  I  do  not  think  that  this  was  a 
natural,  or  would  have  been  a  proper  method  for  a  philosopher 
or  a  moralist;  or  that  it  is  a  method  which  can  be  successfully 
imitated  by  us.  But  I  contend  that  it  was  suitable  to  the  cha- 
racter which  Christ  assumed,  and  to  the  situation  in  which,  as 
a  teacher,  he  was  placed.  He  produced  himself  as  a  messenger 
from  God.  He  put  the  truth  of  what  he  taught  upon  autho- 
rity.1 In  the  choice,  therefore,  of  his  mode  of  teaching,  the 
purpose  by  him  to  be  consulted  was  impression  ;  because  con- 
viction, which  forms  the  principal  end  of  our  discourses,  was  to 
arise  in  the  minds  of  his  followers  from  a  different  source,  from 
their  respect  to  his  person  and  authority.  Now,  for  the  pur- 
pose of  impression  singly  and  exclusively  (I  repeat  again,  that 
we  are  not  here  to  consider  the  convincing  of  the  understand- 
ing) I  know  nothing  which  would  have  so  great  force  as  strong 
ponderous  maxims,  frequently  urged,  and  frequently  brought 
back  to  the  thoughts  of  the  hearers.  I  know  nothing  that 
could  in  this  view  be  said  better,  than  '  Do  unto  others  |is  ye 
would  that  others  should  do  unto  you  :  the  first  and  great icom- 
mandment  is,  Thou  shalt  love  the  Lord  thy  God  ;  and  the 
second  is  like  unto  it,  Thou  shalt  love  thy  neighbour  as  thyself.' 
It  must  also  be  remembered  that  our  Lord's  ministry,  upon 
the  supposition  either  of  one  year  or  of  three,  compared  with 
his  work,  was  of  short  duration ;  that,  within  this  time,  he 
had  many  places  to  visit,  various  audiences  to  address;  that  his 
person  was  generally  besieged  by  crowds  of  followers;  that  he 
was,  sometimes,  driven  away  from  the  place  where  he  was 
teaching  by  persecution,  and,  at  other  times,  thought  fit  to 
withdraw  himself  from  the  commotions  of  the  populace.  Under 
these  circumstances  nothing  appears  to  have  beenso  practicable, 
or  likely  to  be  so  efficacious,  as  leaving,  wherever  he  came,  con- 
cise lessons  of  duty.  These  circumstances  at  least  show  the 
necessity  he  was  under  of  comprising  what  he  delivered  within 
a  small  compass.      In  particular,  his  sermon  upon  the  mount 


1  "/say  unto  you,  Swear  not  at  all;    /say  unto  you,  Resist  not  evil;  /say  unto 
you,  Love  your  enemies."* 

*  Matt.  v.  34,  39,  44. 


Chap,  ii.]  The  Morality  of  the  Gospel.  233 

ought  always  to  be  considered  with  a  view  to  these  observations. 
The  question  is  not,  whether  a  fuller,  a  more  accurate,  a  more 
systematic,  or  a  more  argumentative  discourse  upon  morale 
might  not  have  been  pronounced  ;  but  whether  more  could  have 
been  said  in  the  same  room,  better  adapted  to  the  exigencies  of 
the  hearers,  or  better  calculated  for  the  purpose  of  impression  ? 
Seen  in  this  light,  it  hath  always  appeared  to  me  to  be  admira- 
ble. Dr.  Lardner  thought  that  this  discourse  was  made  up  of 
what  Christ  had  said  at  different  times,  mid  upon  different  occa- 
sions, several  of  which  occasions  are  noticed  in  St.  Luke's 
narrative.  I  can  perceive  no  reason  for  this  opinion.  I  believe 
that  our  Lord  delivered  this  discourse  at  one  time  and  place, 
in  the  manner  related  by  St.  Matthew,  and  that  he  repeated 
the  same  rules  and  maxims  at  different  times,  as  opportunity 
or  occasion  suggested  ;  that  they  were  often  in  his  mouth,  were 
repeated  to  different  audiences,  and  in  various  conversations. 

It  is  incidental  to  this  mode  of  moral  instruction,  which  pro- 
ceeds not  by  proof  but  upon  authority,  not  by  disquisition  but 
by  precept,  that  the  rules  will  be  conceived  in  absolute  terms, 
leaving  the  application,  and  the  distinctions  that  attend  it,  to 
the  reason  of  the  hearer.  It  is  likewise  to  be  expected,  that 
they  will  be  delivered  in  terms,  by  so  much  the  more  forcible 
and  energetic,  as  they  have  to  encounter  natural  or  general 
propensities.  It  is  further  also  to  be  remarked,  that  many  of 
those  strong  instances,  which  appear  in  our  Lord's  sermon, 
such  as  '  If  any  man  will  smite  thee  on  the  right  cheek,  turn 
to  him  the  other  also  :  If  any  man  will  sue  thee  at  law,  and 
take  away  thy  coat,  let  him  have  thy  cloak  also  :  Whosoever 
shall  compel  thee  to  go  a  mile,  go  with  him  twain  :  though  they 
appear  in  the  form  of  specific  precepts,  are  intended  as  descrip- 
tive of  disposition  and  character.  A  specific  compliance  with 
the  precepts  would  be  of  little  value,  but  the  disposition  which 
they  inculcate  is  of  the  highest  He  who  should  content  him- 
self with  waiting  for  the  occasion,  and  with  literally  observing 
the  rule  when  the  occasion  offered,  would  do  nothing,  or 
worse  than  nothing  ;  but  he  who  considers  the  character  and 
disposition  which  is  hereby  inculcated,  and  places  that  disposi- 
tion before  him  as  the  model  to  which  he  should  bring  his  own, 
takes,  perhaps,  the  best  possible  method  of  improving  the  bene- 
volence, and  of  calming  and  rectifying  the  vices  of  his  temper. 


234  Evidences  of  Christianity.  [Part  II. 

If  it  be  said  that  this  disposition  is  unattainable,  I  answer, 
so  is  all  perfection  ;  ought  therefore  a  moralist  to  recommend 
imperfections  ?  One  excellency,  however,  of  our  Saviour's 
rules  is,  that  they  are  either  never  mistaken,  or  never  so  mis- 
taken as  to  do  harm.  I  could  feign  a  hundred  cases,  in  which 
the  literal  application  of  the  rule,  '  of  doing  to  others  as  we 
would  that  others  should  do  unto  us,'  might  mislead  us  :  but  I 
never  yet  met  with  the  man  who  was  actually  misled  by  it.1 
Notwithstanding  that  our  Lord  bid  his  followers  '  not  to  resist 
evil,'  and  '  to  forgive  the  enemy  who  should  trespass  against 
them,  not  till  seven  times  but  till  seventy  times  seven,'  the 
christian  world  has  hitherto  suffered  little  by  too  much  placa- 
bility or  forbearance.  I  would  repeat  once  more,  what  has 
already  been  twice  remarked,  that  these  rules  were  designed  to 
regulate  personal  conduct  from  personal  motives,  and  for  this 
purpose  alone. 

I  think  that  these  observations  will  assist  us  greatly  in 
placing  our  Saviour's  conduct,  as  a  moral  teacher,  in  a  proper 
point  of  view  :  especially  when  it  is  considered,  that  to  deliver 
moral  disrp:iisitions  was  no  part  of  his  design,  to  teach  morality 
at  all  was  only  a  subordinate  part  of  it ;  his  great  business 
being  to  supply,  what  was  much  more  wanting  than  lessons  of 
morality,  stronger  moral  sanctions,  and  clearer  assurances  of  a 
future  judgment.2 

The  parables  of  the  New  Testament  are,  many  of  them,  such 
as  would  have  done  honour  to  any  book  in  the  world  ;  1  do  not 
mean  in  style  and  diction,  but  in  the  choice  of  the  subjects,  in 
the  structure  of  the  narratives,  in  the  aptness,  propriety,  and 
force  of  the  circumstances  woven  into  them  ;  and  in  some,  as 

1  Tt  is  pointed  out  in  the  Lessons  on  Morals  (L.  iv.)  that  the  utter  misapprehension, 
which  is  not  uncommon,  of  the  whole  character  and  design  of  the  precept,  misleads 
men  nut  into  the  mis-application,  but  the  non-application  of  it.  They  often  seem  to 
regard  it  as  ■  very  g I  in  theory.'  but  unfit  for  practice. 

1  Some  appear  to  require  in  a  religious  system,  or  in  the  books  which  profess  to 
deliver  that,  system,  minute  directions  for  every  ease  and  occurrence  that  may  arise. 
This,  say  they,  is  necessary  to  render  a  revelation  perfect,  especially  one  which  has 
for  its  object  the  regulation  ot  human  conduct.  Now,  how  prolix,  and  yet  how  in- 
coinplete  ami  unavailing  such  an  attempt  must  have  been,  is  proved  by  one  notable 
example  :  'The  [ndoo  and  Mussulman  religion  are  institutes  of  civil  law,  regulating 
the  minutesl  questions  both  of  property,  and  of  all  questions  which  come  under  the 
cognizance  of  the  magistrate.  And  to  what  length  details  of  this  kind  are  neces- 
sarily carried,  when  once  begun,  may  be  understood  from  an  anecdote  of  the  Mus- 
sulman code,  which  we  have  received  from  the  most  respectable  authority,  that  no 
less  than  .sn-rnhj-jin'  thousand  traditional  precepts  have  been  promulgated." — Hamil- 
ton's Translation  of  tin  Hedayaor  Guide. 


Chap,  ii.]  The  Morality  of  the  Gospel.  235 

that  of  the  good  Samaritan,  the  prodigal  son,  the  Pharisee  and 
the  publican,  in  an  union  of  pathos  and  simplicity,  which,  in 
the  best  productions  of  human  genius,  is  the  fruit  only  of  a 
much  exercised  and  well-cultivated  judgment. 

The  LoraVs  Prayer,  for  a  succession  of  solemn  thoughts,  for 
fixing  the  attention  upon  a  few  great  points,  for  suitableness  to 
every  condition,  for  sufficiency,  for  conciseness  without  ob- 
scurity, for  the  weight  and  real  importance  of  its  petitions,  is 
without  an  equal  or  a  rival. 

From  whence  did  these  come  ?  Whence  had  this  man  this 
wisdom  ?  Was  our  Saviour,  in  fact,  a  well-instructed  philoso- 
pher, whilst  he  is  represented  to  us  as  an  illiterate  peasant  ? 
Or  shall  we  say  that  some  early  Christians  of  taste  and  educa- 
tion composed  these  pieces,  and  ascribed  them  to  Christ  ?  Be- 
side all  other  incredibilities  in  this  account,  I  answer,  with  Dr. 
Jortin,  that  they  could  not  do  it.  No  specimens  of  composi- 
tion, which  the  Christians  of  the  first  century  have  left  us, 
authorise  us  to  believe  that  they  were  equal  to  the  task.  And 
how  little  qualified  the  Jews,  the  countrymen  and  companions 
of  Christ,  were  to  assist  him  in  the  undertaking,  may  be 
judged  of  from  the  traditions  and  writings  of  theirs  which  were 
the  nearest  to  that  age.  The  whole  collection  of  the  Talmud 
is  one  continued  proof,  into  what  follies  they  fell  whenever  they 
left  their  Bible  ;  and  how  little  capable  they  were  of  furnishing 
out  such  lessons  as  Christ  delivered. 


But  there  is  still  another  view,  in  which  our  Lord's  dis- 
courses deserve  to  be  considered  ;  and  that  is,  in  their  nega- 
tive character,  not  in  what  they  did,  but  in  what  they  did  not, 
contain.  Under  this  head,  the  following  reflections  appear  to 
me  to  possess  some  weight. 

I.  They  exhibit  no  particular  description  of  the  invisible 
world.  The  future  happiness  of  the  good,  and  the  misery  of 
the  bad,  which  is  all  we  want  to  be  assured  of,  is  directby  and 
positively  affirmed,  and  is  represented  by  metaphors  and  com- 
parisons, which  were  plainly  intended  as  metaphors  and  com- 
parisons, and  as  nothing  more.  As  to  the  rest,  a  solemn 
reserve  is  maintained.  The  question  concerning  the  woman 
who  had  been  married  to  seven  brothers,  '  Whose  shall  she  be 
on  the  resurrection  V  was  of  a  nature  calculated  to  have  drawn 


236  Evidences  of  Christianity.  [Part  II. 

from  Christ  a  more  circumstantial  account  of  the  state  of  the 
human  species  in  their  future  existence.  He  cut  short,  however, 
the  inquiry  by  an  answer,  which  at  once  rebuked  intruding  curi- 
osity, and  was  agreeable  to  the  best  apprehensions  we  are  able  to 
form  upon  the  subject,  viz.  '  That  they  who  are  accounted  worthy 
of  that  resurrection,  shall  be  as  the  angels  of  God  in  heaven.' 
I  lay  a  stress  upon  this  reserve,  because  it  repels  the  suspicion 
of  enthusiasm ;  for  enthusiasm  is  wont  to  expatiate  upon  the 
condition  of  the  departed,  above  all  other  subjects  ;  and  with  a 
wild  particularity.  It  is  moreover  a  topic  which  is  always  lis- 
tened to  with  greediness.  The  teacher,  therefore,  whose  prin- 
cipal purpose  is  to  draw  upon  himself  attention,  is  sure  to  be 
full  of  it.     The  Koran  of  Mahomet  is  half  made  up  of  it. 

II.  Our  Lord  enjoined  no  austerities.  He  not  only  enjoined 
none  as  absolute  duties,  but  he  recommended  none  as  carrying 
men  to  a  higher  degree  of  divine  favour.  Place  Christianity, 
in  this  respect,  by  the  side  of  all  institutions  which  have  been 
founded  in  the  fanaticism,  either  of  their  author,  or  of  his  first 
followers  :  or  rather  compare,  in  this  respect,  Christianity  as  it 
came  from  Christ,  with  the  same  religion  after  it  fell  into  other 
hands ;  with  the  extravagant  merit  very  soon  ascribed  to  Celi- 
bacy, solitude,  voluntary  poverty ;  with  the  rigours  of  an 
ascetic,  and  the  vows  of  a  monastic  life ;  the  hair  shirt,  the 
watchings,  the  midnight  prayers,  the  obmutescence,  the  gloom 
and  mortification  of  religious  orders,  and  of  those  who  aspired 
to  religious  perfection. 

III.  Our  Saviour  uttered  no  impassioned  devotion.  There 
was  no  heat  in  his  piety,  or  in  the  language  in  which  he  ex- 
pressed it ;  no  vehement  or  rapturous  ejaculations,  no  violent 
urgency  in  his  prayers.  The  Lord's  prayer  is  a  model  of  calm 
devotion.  His  words  in  the  garden  are  unaffected  expressions, 
of  a  deep  indeed,  but  sober  piety.  He  never  appears  to  have 
been  worked  up  into  anything  like  that  elation,  or  that  emotion 
of  spirits,  which  is  occasionally  observed  in  most  of  those,  to 
whom  the  name  of  enthusiast  can  in  any  degree  be  applied. 
I  feel  a  respect  for  methodists,  because  I  believe  that  there  is 
to  be  found  amongst  them,  much  sincere  piety,  and  availing, 
though  not  always  well-informed,  Christianity;  yet  I  never 
attended  a  meeting  of  theirs,  but  I  came  away  with  the  reflec- 
tion, how  different  what  I  heard  was  from  what  I  read ;  I 


Chap,  ii.]  The  Morality  of  the  Gospel.  237 

do  not  mean  in  doctrine,  with  which,  at  present,  I  have  no 
concern,  but  in  manner ;  how  different  from  the  calmness,  the 
sobriety,  the  good  sense,  and  I  may  add,  the  strength  and 
authority,  of  our  Lord's  discourses. 

IV.  It  is  very  usual  with  the  human  mind,  to  substitute 
forwardness  and  fervency  in  a  particular  cause,  for  the  merit  of 
general  and  regular  morality  ;  and  it  is  natural,  and  politic,  also, 
in  the  leader  of  a  sect  or  party,  to  encourage  such  a  disposition 
in  his  followers.  Christ  did  not  overlook  this  turn  of  thought : 
yet,  though  avowedly  placing  himself  at  the  head  of  a  new 
institution,  he  notices  it  only  to  condemn  it.  '  Not  every  one 
that  saith  unto  me,  Lord,  Lord,  shall  enter  into  the  kingdom 
of  heaven,  but  he  that  doeth  the  will  of  my  Father  which  is 
in  heaven.  Many  will  say  unto  me  in  that  day,  Lord,  Lord, 
have  we  not  prophesied  in  thy  name?  and  in  thy  name  have 
cast  out  devils  ?  and  in  thy  name  done  many  wonderful  works  ? 
and  then  will  I  profess  unto  you,  I  never  knew  you,  depart 
from  me,  ye  that  work  iniquity.''1  So  far  was  the  author  of 
Christianity  from  courting  the  attachment  of  his  followers  by 
any  sacrifice  of  principle,  or  by  a  condescension  to  the  errors 
which  even  zeal  in  his  service  might  have  inspired  !  This  was 
a  proof  both  of  sincerity  and  judgment. 

V.  Nor,  fifthly,  did  he  fall  in  with  any  of  the  depraved 
fashions  of  his  country,  or  with  the  natural  bias  of  his  own 
education.  Bred  up  a  Jew,  under  a  religion  extremely  techni- 
cal, in  an  age  and  amongst  a  people  more  tenacious  of  the 
ceremonies  than  of  any  other  part  of  that  religion,  he  delivered 
an  institution,  containing  less  of  ritual,  and  that  more  simple, 
than  is  to  be  found  in  any  religion,  which  ever  prevailed 
amongst  mankind.  We  have  known,  I  do  allow,  examples  of 
an  enthusiasm,  which  has  swept  away  all  external  ordinances 
before  it.  But  this  spirit  certainly  did  not  dictate  our  Saviour's 
conduct,  either  in  his  treatment  of  the  religion  of  his  country, 
or  in  the  formation  of  his  own  institution.  In  both  he  dis- 
played the  soundness  and  moderation  of  his  judgment.  He 
censured  an  overstrained  scrupulousness,  or  perhaps  an  affecta- 
tion of  scrupulousness,  about  the  Sabbath ;  but  how  did  he 
censure  it  ?  not  by  contemning  or  decrying  the  institution  itself, 


1  Matt.  vii.  21,  22. 


238  Evidences  of  Christianity.  [Part  II. 

but  by  declaring  that  '  the  sabbath  was  made  for  man,  not 
man  for  the  sabbath  ;'  that  is  to  say,  that  the  sabbath  was  to 
be  subordinate  to  its  purpose,  and  that  that  purpose  was  the 
real  good  of  those  who  were  the  subjects  of  the  law.  The 
same  concerning  the  nicety  of  some  of  the  pharisees,  in  paying 
tithes  of  the  most  trifling  articles,  accompanied  with  a  neglect 
of  justice,  fidelity,  and  mercy.  He  finds  fault  with  them  for 
misplacing  their  anxiety.  He  does  not  speak  disrespectfully 
of  the  law  of  tithes,  or  of  their  observance  of  it,  but  he  assigns 
to  each  class  of  duties  its  proper  station  in  the  scale  of  moral 
importance.  All  this  might  be  expected  perhaps  from  a  well- 
instructed,  cool,  and  judicious  philosopher,  but  was  not  to  be 
looked  for  from  an  illiterate  Jew,  certainly  not  from  an  impetu- 
ous enthusiast. 

VI.  Nothing  could  be  more  quibbling,  than  were  the  com- 
ments and  expositions  of  the  Jewish  doctors,  at  that  time  ;  no- 
thing so  puerile  as  their  distinctions.  Their  evasion  of  the 
fifth  commandment,  their  exposition  of  the  law  of  oaths,  are 
specimens  of  the  bad  taste  in  morals  which  then  prevailed. 
"Whereas  in  a  numerous  collection  of  our  Saviour's  apothegms, 
many  of  them  referring  to  sundry  precepts  of  the  Jewish  law, 
there  is  not  to  be  found  one  example  of  sophistry,  or  of  false 
subtlety,  or  of  anything  approaching  thereunto. 

VII.  The  national  temper  of  the  Jews  was  intolerant,  narrow- 
minded,  and  excluding.  In  Jesus,  on  the  contrary,  whether  we 
regard  his  lessons  or  his  example,  we  see  not  only  benevolence, 
but  benevolence  the  most  enlarged  and  comprehensive.  In  the 
parable  of  the  good  Samaritan,  the  very  point  of  the  story  is, 
that  the  person  relieved  by  him,  was  the  national  and  religious 
enemy  of  his  benefactor.  Our  Lord  declared  the  equity  of  the 
divine  administration,  when  he  told  the  Jews  (what,  probably, 
they  were  surprised  to  hear)  '  That  many  should  come  from 
the  east  and  west,  and  should  sit  down  with  Abraham,  Isaac, 
and  Jacob,  in  the  kingdom  of  heaven,  but  that  the  children  of 
the  kingdom  should  be  cast  into  outer  darkness."  His  reproof 
of  the  hasty  zeal  of  his  disciples,  who  would  needs  call  down 
fire  from  heaven  to  revenge  an  affront  put  upon  their 
Master,  shows  the  lenity  of  his  character,  and  of  his  religion ; 


1   Matt.  viii.  11. 


Chap,  ii.]  The  Morality  of  the  Gospel.  239 

and  his  opinion  of  the  manner  in  which  the  most  unreason- 
able opponents  ought  to  be  treated,  or  at  least  of  the  manner 
in  which  they  ought  not  to  be  treated.  The  terms,  in  which 
his  rebuke  was  conveyed,  deserve  to  be  noticed : — '  Ye  know 
not  what  manner  of  spirit  ye  are  of.'1 

VIII.  Lastly,  amongst  the  negative  qualities  of  our  religion, 
as  it  came  out  of  the  hands  of  its  founder  and  his  apostles,  we 
may  reckon  its  complete  abstraction  from  all  views  either  of 
ecclesiastical  or  civil  policy ;  or,  to  meet  a  language  much  in 
fashion  with  some  men,  from  the  politics  of  either  priests  or 
statesmen.  Christ's  declaration,  that  '  his  kingdom  was  not  of 
this  world,'  recorded  by  John  ;  his  evasion  of  the  question, 
whether  it  was  lawful  or  not  to  give  tribute  unto  Caesar,  men- 
tioned by  the  three  other  evangelists  ;  his  reply  to  an  appli- 
cation that  was  made  to  him,  to  interpose  his  authority  in  a 
question  of  property,  '  Man,  who  made  me  a  ruler  or  a  judge 
over  you?'  ascribed  to  him  by  St  Luke;  his  declining  to 
exercise  the  office  of  a  criminal  judge  in  the  case  of  the 
woman  taken  in  adultery,  as  related  by  John,  are  all  intel- 
ligible significations  of  our  Saviour's  sentiments  upon  this  head. 
And  with  respect  to  politics,  in  the  usual  sense  of  that  word, 
or  discussions  concerning  different  forms  of  government,  Chris- 
tianity declines  every  question  upon  the  subject.  Whilst 
politicians  are  disputing  about  monarchies,  aristocracies,  and 
republics,  the  Gospel  is  alike  applicable,  useful,  and  friendly 
to  them  all ;  inasmuch  as,  1st,  it  tends  to  make  men  virtuous, 
and  as  it  is  easier  to  govern  good  men  than  bad  men  under 
any  constitution :  as,  2ndly,  it  states  obedience  to  government 
in  ordinary  cases,  to  be  not  merely  a  submission  to  force,  but 
a  duty  of  conscience;  as,  3rdly,  it  induces  dispositions  favour- 
able to  public  tranquillity,  a  Christian's  chief  care  being  to  pass 
quietly  through  this  world  to  a  better:  as,  4thly,  it  prays  for 
communities,  and  for  the  governors  of  communities,  of  what- 
ever description  or  denomination  they  be,  with  a  solicitude  and 
fervency  proportioned  to  the  influence  which  they  possess  upon 
human  happiness.  All  which,  in  my  opinion,  is  just  as  it 
should  be.  Had  there  been  more  to  be  found  in  scripture 
of  a  political  nature,  or  convertible  to  political  purposes,  the 


1  Luke  ix   55. 


240  Evidences  of  Christianity.  [Part II. 

worst  use  would  have  been  made  of  it,  on  whichever  side  it 
seemed  to  lie. 

When,  therefore,  we  consider  Christ  as  a  moral  teacher 
(remembering  that  this  was  only  a  secondary  part  of  his  office; 
and  that  morality,  by  rhe  nature  of  the  subject,  does  not  admit 
of  discovery,  properly  so  called)  ;  when  we  consider  either 
what  he  taught,  or  what  he  did  not  teach,  either  the  substance 
or  the  manner  of  his  instruction  ;  his  preference  of  solid  to 
popular  virtues,  of  a  character  which  is  commonly  despised,  to 
a  character  which  is  universally  extolled  ;  his  placing,  in  our 
licentious  vices,  the  check,  in  the  right  place,  viz.,  upon  the 
thoughts ;  his  collecting  of  human  duty  into  two  well-devised 
rules,  his  repetition  of  these  rules,  the  stress  he  laid  upon  them, 
especially  in  comparison  with  positive  duties,  and  his  fixing 
therebv  the  sentiments  of  his  followers;  his  exclusion  of  all 
regard  to  reputation  in  our  devotion  and  alms,  and,  by  parity 
of  reason,  in  our  other  virtues;  when  we  consider  that  his  in- 
structions were  delivered  in  a  form  calculated  for  impression, 
the  precise  purpose  in  his  situation  to  be  consulted ;  and  that 
they  were  illustrated  by  parables,  the  choice  and  structure  of 
which  would  have  been  admired  in  any  composition  whatever : 
when  we  observe  him  free  from  the  usual  symptoms  of  enthu- 
siasm, heat  and  vehemence  in  devotion,  austerity  in  institu- 
tions, and  a  wild  particularity  in  the  descriptions  of  a  future 
state ;  free  also  from  the  depravities  of  his  age  and  country ; 
without  superstition  amongst  the  most  superstitious  of  men,  yet 
not  decrying  positive  distinctions  or  external  observances,  but 
soberly  recalling  them  to  the  principle  of  their  establishment, 
and  to  their  place  in  the  scale  of  human  duties;  without 
sophistry  or  trifling,  amidst  teachers  remarkable  for  nothing  so 
much,  as  frivolous  subtleties  and  quibbling  expositions;  candid 
and  liberal  in  his  judgment  of  the  rest  of  mankind,  although 
belonging  to  a  people,  who  affected  a  separate  claim  to  divine 
favour,  and,  in  consequence  of  that  opinion,  prone  to  uncha- 
ritableness,  partiality,  and  restriction  :  when  we  find,  in  his 
religion,  no  scheme  of  building  up  a  hierarchy,  or  of  minister- 
ing to  the  views  of  human  governments:  in  a  word,  when  we 
compare  Christianity,  as  it  came  from  its  author,  either  with 
other  religions,  or  with  itself  in  other  hands,  the  most  re- 
luctant   understanding   will    be    induced  to  acknowledge  the 


Chap,  ii.]  The  Morality  of  the  Gospel.  241, 

probity,  I  think  also  the  good  sense,  of  those  to  whom  it  owes 
its  origin  ;  and  that  some  regard  is  due  to  the  testimony  of  such 
men,  when  they  declare  their  knowledge  that  the  religion  pro- 
ceeded from  God  ;  and  when  they  appeal,  for  the  truth  of  their 
assertion,  to  miracles  which  they  wrought,  or  which  they  saw. 

Perhaps  the  qualities  which  we  observe  in  the  religion,  may 
be  thought  to  prove  something  more.  They  would  have  been 
extraordinary,  had  the  religion  come  from  any  person  ;  from 
the  person  from  whom  it  did  come,  they  are  exceedingly  so. 
What  was  Jesus  in  external  appearance?  A  Jewish  peasant, 
the  son  of  a  carpenter,  living  with  his  father  and  mother  in  a 
remote  province  of  Palestine,  until  the  time  that  he  produced 
himself  in  his  public  character.  He  had  no  master  to  instruct 
or  prompt  him.  He  had  read  no  books,  but  the  works  of 
Moses  and  the  Prophets.  He  had  visited  no  polished  cities. 
He  had  received  no  lessons  from  Socrates  or  Plato ;  nothing 
to  form  in  him  a  taste  or  judgment,  different  from  that  of  the 
rest  of  his  countrymen,  and  of  persons  of  the  same  rank  of  life 
with  himself.  Supposing  it  to  be  true,  which  it  is  not,  that  all 
his  points  of  morality  might  be  picked  out  of  Greek  and 
Pom  an  writings,  they  were  writings  which  he  had  never  seen. 
Supposing  them  to  be  no  more  than  what  some  or  other  had 
taught  in  various  times  and  places,  he  could  not  collect  them 
together. 

Who  were  his  coadjutors  in  the  undertaking,  the  persons 
into  whose  hands  the  religion  came  after  his  death  ?  A  few 
fishermen  upon  the  lake  of  Tiberias,  persons  just  as  uneducated, 
and,  for  the  purpose  of  framing  rules  of  morality,  as  unpro- 
mising, as  himself.  Suppose  the  mission  to  be  real,  all  this  is 
accounted  for;  the  unsuitableness  of  the  authors  to  the  pro- 
duction, of  the  characters  to  the  undertaking,  no  longer  sur- 
prises  us ;  but,  without  reality,  it  is  very  difficult  to  explain, 
how  such  a  system  should  proceed  from  such  persons.  Christ 
was  not  like  any  other  carpenter ;  the  apostles  were  not  like 
any  other  fishermen. 

But  the  subject  is  not  exhausted  by  these  observations. 
That  portion  of  it,  which  is  most  reducible  to  points  of  argu- 
ment, has  been  stated,  and,  I  trust,  truly.  There  are,  how- 
ever, some  topics,  of  a  more  diffuse  nature,  which  yet  deserve 
to  be  proposed  to  the  reader's  attention. 

16 


242  Evidences  of  Christianity.  [Part  II. 

The  character  of  Christ  is  a  part  of  the  morality  of  the 
Gospel :  one  strong  observation  upon  which  is,  that,  neither 
as  represented  by  his  followers,  nor  as  attacked  by  his  enemies, 
is  he  charged  with  any  personal  vice.  This  remark  is  as  old 
as  Orio-en : — 'Though  innumerable  lies  and  calumnies  had 
been  forged  against  the  venerable  Jesus,  none  had  dared  to 
charge  him  with  an  intemperance.'1  Not  a  reflection  upon  his 
moral  character,  not  an  imputation  or  suspicion  of  any  offence 
against  purity  and  chastity,  appears  for  five  hundred  years  after 
his  birth.  This  fanltlessness  is  more  peculiar  than  we  are 
apt  to  imagine.  Some  stain  pollutes  the  morals  or  the  morality 
of  almost  every  other  teacher,  and  of  every  other  lawgiver." 
Zeno  the  stoic,  and  Diogenes  the  cynic,  fell  into  the  foulest 
impurities;  of  which  also  Socrates  himself  was  more  than  sus- 
pected. Solon  forbade  unnatural  crimes  to  slaves.  Lycurgus 
tolerated  theft  as  a  part  of  education.  Plato  recommended 
a  community  of  women.  Aristotle  maintained  the  general  right 
of  making  war  upon  Barbarians.  The  elder  Cato  was  remark- 
able for  the  ill-usage  of  his  slaves.  The  younger  gave  up  the 
person  of  his  wife.  One  loose  principle  is  found  in  almost  all 
the  Pagan  moralists ;  is  distinctly,  however,  perceived  ins  the 
writings  of  Plato,  Xenophon,  Cicero,  Seneca,  Epictetus,  and 
that  is,  the  allowing,  and  even  the  recommending  to  their  dis- 
ciples, a  compliance  with  the  religion,  and  with  the  religious 
rites,  of  every  county  into  which  they  came.  In  speaking  of 
the  founders  of  new  institutions,  we  cannot  forget  Mahomet. 
His  licentious  transgressions  of  his  own  licentious  rules ;  his 
abuse  of  the  character  which  he  assumed,  and  of  the  power 
which  he  had  acquired,  for  the  purposes  of  personal  and  privi- 
leged indulgence  ;  his  avowed  claim  of  a  special  permission 
from  heaven  of  unlimited  sensuality,  is  known  to  every  reader, 
as  it  is  confessed  by  every  writer,  of  the  Moslem  story. 

Secondly,  in  the  histories  which  are  left  us  of  Jesus  Christ, 
although  very  short,  and  although  dealing  in  narrative,  and 
not  in  observation  or  panegyric,  we  perceive,  beside  the  absence 
of  every  appearance  of  vice,  traces  of  devotion,  humility,  be- 
nignity, mildness,  patience,  prudence.     I  speak  of  traces  of 


•  Or.  /,/-.  Cds.  L3  num.  :!6.  ed.  Bencd. 
2  See  m:niy  iii<t:inces  collected  by  Grotius  de  Ver.  in  the  notes  to  his  second  book, 
p.  l  l<>.  Pocock'a  edition. 


Chap,  ii.]  The  Morality  of  the  Gospel.  243 

these  qualities,  because  the  qualities  themselves  are  to  be  col- 
lected from  incidents ;  inasmuch  as  the  terms  are  never  used 
of  Christ  in  the  gospels,  nor  is  any  formal  character  of  him 
drawn  in  any  part  of  the  New  Testament. 

Thus  we  see  the  devoutness  of  his  mind,  in  his  frequent 
retirement  to  solitary  prayer  ;'  in  his  habitual  giving  of  thanks;* 
in  his  reference  of  the  beauties  and  operations  of  nature  to  the 
bounty  of  providence  ;3  in  his  earnest  addresses  to  his  Father, 
more  particularly  that  short  but  solemn  one  before  the  raising 
of  Lazarus  from  the  dead;4  and  in  the  deep  piety  of  his  be- 
havior in  the  garden,  on  the  last  evening  of  his  life  ;6  his 
humility,  in  his  constant  reproof  of  contentions  for  superiority  ;8 
the  benignity  and  affectionateness  of  his  temper,  in  his  kindness 
to  children,7  in  the  tears  which  he  shed  over  his  falling  coun- 
tiy,8  and  upon  the  death  of  his  friend  ;B  in  his  noticing  of  the 
widow's  mite  ;10  in  his  parables  of  the  good  Samaritan,  of  the 
ungrateful  servant,  and  of  the  Pharisee  and  publican,  of  which 
parables  no  one  but  a  man  of  humanity  could  have  been  the 
author :  the  mildness  and  lenity  of  his  character  is  discovered, 
in  his  rebuke  of  the  forward  zeal  of  his  disciples  at  the  Sama- 
ritan village  ;"  in  his  expostulation  with  Pilate  ;12  in  his  prayer 
for  his  enemies  at  the  moment  of  his  suffering,13  which,  though 
it  has  been  since  very  properly  and  frequently  imitated,  was 
then,  I  apprehend,  new.  His  prudence  is  discerned,  where 
prudence  is  most  wanted,  in  his  conduct  upon  trying  occasions, 
and  in  answers  to  artful  questions.  Of  these  the  following  are 
examples: — His  withdrawing,  in  various  instances,  from  the 
first  symptoms  of  tumult,14  and  with  the  express  care,  as 
appears  from  St.  Matthew,15  of  carrying  on  his  ministry  in  quiet- 
ness ;  his  declining  of  every  species  of  interference  with  the 
civil  affairs  of  the  country,  which  disposition  is  manifested  by 
his  behavior  in  the  case  of  the  woman  caught  in  adultery,18 
and  in  his  repulse  of  the  application  which  was  made  to  him, 
to  interpose  his  decision  about  a  disputed  inheritance:17  his  judi- 


1  Matt.  xiv.  23.     is.  28.     xxvi.  36. 
3  Matt.  xi.  25.     Mark  via.  6.     John  vi.  23.     Luke  xxii.  17.     3  Matt,  vi  26,  28. 
4  John  xi.  41.  6  Matt,  xxvi.  36-17.  6  Mark  ix.  33. 

1  Mark  x.  16  B  Luke  xix.  41.  9  John  xi.  35. 

10  Mark  xii.  42.  "  Luke  ix.  55.  n  John  xix.  11. 

18  Luke  xxiii.  34.  H  Matt.  xiv.  22.     Luke  v.  15,  16      John  v.  13  ;  vL  15. 

16  Matt.   xii.  19.  ,B  John  viii.  1.  1T  Luke  xii.  14. 


244  Evidences  of  Christianity.  [Part  II. 

cious,  yet,  as  it  should  seem,  unprepared  answers,  will  be  con- 
fessed in  the  case  of  the  Roman  tribute ;'  in  the  difficulty  con 
cerning  the  interfering  relations  of  a  future  state,  as  proposed 
to  him  in  the  instance  of  a  woman  who  had  married  seven 
brethren;9  and,  more  especially,  in  his  reply  to  those  who 
demanded  from  him  an  explanation  of  the  authority  by  which 
he  acted,  which  reply  consisted,  in  propounding  a  question  to 
them,  situated  between  the  very  difficulties,  into  which  they 
were  insidiously  endeavoring  to  draw  Mm.3 

Our  Saviour's  lessons,  beside  what  has  already  been  re- 
marked in  them,  touch,  and  that  oftentimes  by  very  affecting 
representations,  upon  some  of  the  most  interesting  topics  of 
human  duty,  and  of  human  meditation  ;  upon  the  principles, 
by  which  the  decisions  of  the  last  day  will  be  regulated  ;4  upon 
the  superior,  or  rather  the  supreme,  importance  of  religion  ;B 
upon  penitence,  by  the  most  pressing  calls  and  the  most  en- 
couraging invitations  ;8  upon  self-denial,7  watchfulness,8  placa- 
bility,9 confidence  in  God,10  the  value  of  spiritual,  that  is,  of 
mental  worship,11  the  necessity  of  moral  obedience,  and  the 
directing  of  that  obedience  to  the  spirit  and  principle-  of  the 
law,  instead  of  seeking  for  evasions  in  a  technical  construction 
of  its  terms.12  * 

If  we  extend  our  argument  to  other  parts  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment, we  may  offer,  as  amongst  the  best  and  shortest  rules  of 
life,  or,  which  is  the  same  thing,  descriptions  of  virtue,  that 
have  ever  been  delivered,  the  following  passages: 

'Pure   religion,  and   undefiled,  before  God,  and  the  Father, 
is  this  ;   to  visit  the  fatherless  and  widows  in  their  affliction,  and 
■>  keep  himself  unspotted  from  the  world.'13 

'N<»w  the  end  of  the  commandment  is,  charity,  out  of  a  pure 
heart,  and  a  good  conscience,  and  faith  unfeigned. ''4 

'For  the  grace  of  God  thai  bringeth  salvation,  hath  appeared 
to  all  men,  teaching  us,  that,  denying  ungodliness  and  worldly 
lusts,  we  should  live  soberly,  righteously,  and  godly,  in  this 
present  world.'16 

1  M:iti    xxii.  19.     -  thid.  28.     8Ibid.  xxi.  'J::  el  seq.     '  Matt  xxv.  1  et  scq. 

6  Mark  viii   35.     Matt.  \i.  31-33.     Luke  xii.  16.  21;    I.  5. 
0  Luke  xv  T  Matt  v    29.  "  Mark  xiii.  37.     Matt,  xxiv  42;   xxv.  13. 

■Luke  wii.  I      Matt,  x viii   33.  '"Matt,  v.25-30. 

"  John  rp.  23,  24  '-  .Man   v.  11.  l*  James  i.  27.         u  1  Tim.  i  5. 

16  Tit    ii    11,    11 


Chap,  ii.]  Annotations.  245 

Enumerations  of  virtues  and  vices,  and  those  sufficiently  ac- 
curate, and  unquestionably  just,  are  given  by  St.  Paul  to  his 
converts  in  three  several  epistles.1 

The  relative  duties  of  husbands  and  wives,  of  parents  and 
children,  of  masters  and  servants,  of  christian  teachers  and 
their  flocks,  of  governors  and  their  subjects,  are  set  forth  by 
the  same  writer/  not  indeed  with  the  copiousness,  the  detail,  or 
the  distinctness,  of  a  moralist,  who  should,  in  these  days,  sit 
clown  to  write  chapters  upon  the  subject,  but  with  the  leading 
rules  and  principles  in  each  ;  and,  above  all,  with  truth,  and 
with  authority. 

Lastly,  the  whole  volume  of  the  New  Testament  is  replete 
with  piety  /  with,  what  were  almost  unknown  to  heathen  mo- 
ralists, devotional  virtues,  the  most  profound  veneration  of  the 
Deity,  an  habitual  sense  of  his  bounty  and  protection,  a  firm 
confidence  in  the  final  result  of  his  counsels  and  dispensations, 
a  disposition  to  resort,  upon  all  occasions,  to  his  mercy,  for  the 
supply  of  human  wants,  for  assistance  in  danger,  for  relief  from 
pain,  for  the  pardon  of  sin. 


ANNOTATIONS. 

'  The  members  of  civilized  society  can,  tn  all  ordinary  cases, 
judge  tolerably  well  how  they  ought  to  acV 

Paley  is,  here,  and  in  several  other  places,  at  variance  with 
what  he  has  said  in  his  Moral  Philosophy  ;  that  'the  only  dif- 
ference between  an  act  of  prudence,  and  an  act  of  virtue,  is, 
that  in  the  one  case  we  consider  what  we  may  gain  or  lose  in 
the  present  world,  and  in  the  other,  what  we  shall  gain  or  lose 
in  the  next  world.'  For,  it  is  plain  that  on  this  principle,  men 
to  whom  a  future  state  had  not  been  revealed,  so  far  from 
*  understanding  what  they  ought  to  do'  would  have  had  no 
more  notion  of  '  ought,'  or  of  duty,  than  a  blind  man,  of 
colors. 

This  fundamental  error  in  Paley's  views  (which  I  have  fully 

1  Gal.  v.  19.     Col.  iii.  12.     1  Cor.  xiii. 
2  Eph.  v.  33;  vi   1,  5.     2  Cor.  vi.  6,  7.     Rom.  xiii. 


246  Evidences  of  Christianity.  [Part  II. 

treated  of  in  the  Annotations  on  his  Moral  Philosophy)  goes  to 
weaken  very  much  the  force  of  his  arguments  from  the  moral 
character  of  Jesus,  and  of  his  gospel. 

'  They  exhibit  no  particular  description  of  the  invisible  world? 

Let  any  one  who  meets  with  an  unbeliever,  who  treats  Chris- 
tianity as  a  series  of  '  cunningly  devised  fables,'  ask  him  how  it 
happens  that  none  of  the  Sacred  Writers  has  given  a  full,  de- 
tailed, and  captivating  description  of  everything  that  is  to  take 
place  at  the  end  of  the  world  ; — of  all  the  interesting  particulars 
of  the  glorified  bodies  with  which  the  faithful  will  rise,  and  of 
the  heavenly  joys  to  which  they  will  be  admitted. 

Nothing  certainly  could  have  been  more  likely  to  gratify  the 
curiosity  of  believers,  and  even  to  attract  fresh  converts,  than  a 
lively  and  magnificent  description  of  heavenly  glories.  And 
those  who  gave  full  credit  to  the  writer,  as  the  Corinthians  evi- 
dently did  to  Paul,  would  not  have  hesitated  to  believe  his 
account  of  these  things.  Had  he  been  an  impostor,  it  would 
not  have  been  at  all  difficult  for  him  to  invent  such  a  descrip- 
tion ;  and  had  he  been  an  enthusiast,  he  could  not  have  avoided 
it.  One,  whose  imagination  had  got  the  better  of  his  judg- 
ment, and  whose  wild  fancies  were  regarded  by  himself  a*  re- 
velations, could  never  have  treated  of  such  a  subject  as  this 
without  being  tempted  by  its  mysterious  and  deep  interest,  to 
invent,  and  actually  believe,  a  vast  number  of  particulars 
respecting  the  other  world. 

Why,  then,  you  may  ask,  do  we  find  nothing  of  this  nature 
in  the  writings  of  the  Apostles  ?  The  plain  answer  is,  because 
they  were  not  either  impostors  or  enthusiasts ;  but  plain, 
simple,  honest  men,  who  taught  only  what  had  been  revealed 
to  them,  and  what  they  had  been  commissioned  to  reveal  to 
others.  You  may  safely  defy  an  unbeliever  to  give  any  other 
answer  to  the  question,  if  he  can.  For  near  eighteen  centuries 
has  this  proof  remained  uncontradicted ;  and  in  all  that  time 
no  one  lias  given,  or  even  attempted  to  give,  any  explanation 
of  the  brief,  unadorned,  cool,  and  unpretending  accounts  which 
the  New-Testament-writers  give  of  matters  so  interesting  to 
man's  curiosity,  except  by  considering  them  as  upright  and 
sober-minded  men,  setting  forth  what  they  knew  to  be  truth, 
just  as  they  had  received  it. 


Chap,  ii.]  Annotations.  247 

And  it  should  be  observed,  that  if  we  were  totally  unable 
to  perceive  the  wisdom,  or  to  guess  the  cause,  of  the  Sacred 
Writers  giving  us  such  scanty  accounts  of  the  life  to  come, 
still,  the  proof  which  this  scantiness  affords  of  the  truth  of 
what  they  say,  remains  the  same.  For  if  they  wrote  as  no 
impostor  and  no  enthusiast  ever  would  write,  they  could  have 
been  neither.  What  cannot  have  come  from  Man,  must  have 
come  from  God  ;  whether  we  can  perceive  anything  of  its 
divine  excellence,  or  not. 

'  Our  Lord  enjoined  no  austerities.'' 

This  very  remarkable  point  1  have  dwelt  on  at  large  in  the 
Essay  on  Christian  Self-denial  •  and  more  briefly  in  the  Les- 
sons on  Morals,  and  the  Lessons  on  Mind. 

'  lie  censured  an  overstrained  scrupulousness  about  the  Sabbath  ; 
but  how  did  He  censure  it  f 

Paley's  words  may  be  understood  to  imply  that  any  man  had 
an  equal  right  with  the  Lord  Jesus  to  dispense  with  the  ob- 
servance of  the  Sabbath.  But  our  Lord  Himself  implies  the 
contrary,  in  saying  '  The  Son  of  man  is  Lord  of  the  Sabbath." 

Paley,  in  his  Moral  and  Political  Philosophy  (bk.  v.  ch.  6), 
treats  of  '  Sabbatical  Institutions  ' — the  Jewish  Sabbath,  and  the 
Lord's  Day.  And  when  (a  good  many  years  after)  the  same  doc- 
trine, in  substance  with  his,  was  put  forth  by  another  author,  and 
again  by  others,  subsequently,  it  was  decried,  not  merely  as  erro- 
neous, but  as  an  unheard-of  novelty.  Not  merely  many  of  the  illi- 
terate, but  several  also  who  were  supposed  to  be  learned  Divines, 
spoke  of  it  (and  that  in  published  works)  as  something  that  had 
never  before  occurred  to  any  christian  writer.  Now  it  was  indeed 
no  novelty  in  Paley's  time  ;  his  view  being  what  was  almost  uni- 
versal throughout  Christendom  for  the  first  fifteen  centuries  and 
more  ;  and  had  been  set  forth  by  Calvin  and  others  of  the  most 
eminent  Reformers.  But  it  is  not  perhaps  very  strange  that 
persons  of  no  extensive  reading,  should  have  been  ignorant  of 
ancient  books,  some  of  them  in  Latin.  But  Paley's  work  had 
been  for  half  a  century  a  text-book  in  a  great  university.  And 
that   any  writer  on   these   subjects   should  either  be  himself 


1  This  point  is  fully  treated  in  the  Tlwughts  on  the  Sabbath. 


248  Evidences  of  Christianity.  [Part  II. 

ignorant  of  its  contents,  or  should  calculate  on  that  ignorance 
in  his  readers,  is  really  wonderful.  As  for  the  soundness  or 
unsoundness  of  Paley's  doctrine,  that  is  a  question  of  opinion, 
and  is  one  on  which  I  shall  not  now  enter.  But  the  existence 
of  his  opinions  is  a  matter  of  fact  /  and  is  a  fact  of  which 
one  might  have  supposed  all  readers  to  he  aware.  But 
its  having  been  thus  overlooked,  is  a  sti^ong  proof  that  an 
author  of  great  celebrity  may  be  much  talked  of,  and  yet 
little  known. 

I  have  thought  it  necessary  to  advert — not  without  reluc- 
tance— to  this  matter,  because  any  such  error,  when  detected 
(as  it  is  sure  to  be,  sooner  or  later),  leads  to  consequences  ex- 
tending far  beyond  the  immediate  question  it  may  happen  to 
relate  to.  When  a  religious  teacher  makes  such  a  misstate- 
ment of  facts  as  proves  him  to  be  either  grossly  and  culpably 
ignorant  of  what  he  ought  to  have  clearly  ascertained,  or  else 
guilty  of  disingenuous  suppression,  all  the  rest  of  his  teaching 
is  likely  to  be  regarded  with  a  distrust  which  may  be  unde- 
served, but  which  cannot  be  wondered  at. 

'  The  lenity  of  his  character,  and  of  his  Religion!1 

Paley  seems  to  imply  that  our  Lord  represented  a  rejection 
of  Him  as  a  sin  that  would  be  more  leniently  dealt  with  than 
rebellion  against  the  Lord  under  the  Old  Dispensation.  But 
the  distinction  drawn  is  evidently  between  temporal,  and  future 
judgments.  For  He  says  expressly  that  it  would  be  'more 
tolerable  for  Sodom,  in  the  Day  of  Judgment,  than  for  that 
city'  which  should  reject  his  messengers. 


CHAPTER  III. 

The  Candor  of  the  Writers  of  the  New  Testament. 

I  MAKE  this  candor  to  consist,  in  their  putting  down  many 
passages,  and  noticing  many  circumstances,  which  no 
writer  whatever  was  likely  to  have  forged  ;  and  which  no 
writer  would  have  chosen  to  appear  in  his  book,  who  had  been 
careful  to  present  the  story  in  the  most  unexceptionable  form, 
or  who  bad  thought  himself  at  liberty  to  carve  and  mould  the 


Chap,  iii.]    Candor  of  tke  Writers  of  the  New  Testament.     249 

particulars  of  that  story,  according  to  his  choice,  or  according 
to  Ills  judgment  of  the  effect. 

A  strong  and  well-known  example  of  the  fairness  of  the 
evangelists,  offers  itself  in  their  account  of  Christ's  resurrection, 
namely,  in  their  unanimously  stating,  that,  after  he  was  risen, 
he  appeared  to  his  disciples  alone.  I  do  not  mean  that  they 
have  used  the  exclusive  word  alone  ;  but  that  all  the  instances 
which  they  have  recorded  of  his  appearance,  are  instances  of 
appearance  to  his  disciples :  that  their  reasonings  upon  it,  and 
allusions  to  it,  are  confined  to  this  supposition  ;  and  that,  by 
one  of  them,  Peter  is  made  to  say,  '  Him  God  raised  up  the 
third  day,  and  showed  him  openly,  not  to  all  the  people,  but  to 
witnesses  chosen  before  of  God,  even  to  us,  who  did  eat  and 
drink  with  him  after  he  rose  from  the  dead.'1  The  commonest 
understanding  must  have  perceived,  that  the  history  of  the 
resurrection  would  have  come  with  more  advantage,  if  they  had 
related  that  Jesus  appeared,  after  he  was  risen,  to  his  foes  as 
well  as  his  friends,  to  the  Scribes  and  Pharisees,  the  Jewish 
council,  and  the  Roman  governor :  or  even  if  they  had  asserted 
the  public  appearance  of  Christ  in  general  unqualified  terms, 
without  noticing,  as  they  have  done,  the  presence  of  his  dis- 
ciples upon  each  occasion,  and  noticing  it  in  such  a  manner 
as  to  lead  their  readers  to  suppose  that  none  but  disciples  were 
present.  They  could  have  represented  it  one  way  as  well  as 
the  other.  And  if  their  point  had  been,  to  have  the  religion 
believed,  whether  true  or  false  ;  if  they  had  fabricated  the 
story  ah  initio,  or  if  they  had  been  disposed,  either  to  have 
delivered  their  testimony  as  witnesses,  or  to  have  worked  up 
their  materials  and  information  as  historians,  in  such  a  manner 
as  to  render  their  narrative  as  specious  and  unobjectionable  as 
they  could  ;  in  a  word,  if  they  had  thought  of  anything  but  of 
the  truth  of  the  case,  as  they  understood  and  believed  it ;  they 
would,  in  their  account  of  Christ's  several  appearances  after 
his  resurrection,  at  least  have  omitted  this  restriction.  At  this 
distance  of  time,  the  account  as  we  have  it  is  perhaps  more 
credible  than  it  would  have  been  the  other  way ;  because  this 
manifestation  of  the  historians'  candor,  is  of  more  advantage 
to  their  testimony,  than  the  difference  in  the  circumstances  of 


1  Acts  x.  40,  41. 


250  Evidences  of  Christianity.  [Part  II. 

the  account  would  have  been  to  the  nature  of  the  evidence. 
But  tliis  is  an  effect  which  the  evangelists  would  not  foresee ; 
and  I  think  that  it  was  by  no  means  the  case  at  the  time  when 
the  books  were  composed. 

Mr.  Gibbon  has  argued  for  the  genuineness  of  the  Koran, 
from  the  confessions  which  it  contains,  to  the  apparent  dis- 
advantage of  the  Mahometan  cause.1  The  same  defence  vindi- 
cates the  genuineness  of  our  Gospels,  and  without  prejudice  to 
the  cause  at  all. 

There  are  some  other  instances  in  which  the  evangelists 
honestly  relate  what,  they  must  have  perceived,  would  make 
against  them. 

Of  this  kind  is  John  the  Baptist's  message,  preserved  by  St. 
Matthew  and  St.  Luke  [xi.  2  ;  vii.  18].  '  Now  when  John  had 
heard  in  the  prison  the  works  of  Christ,  he  sent  two  of  his  dis- 
ciples, and  said  unto  him,  Art  thou  he  that  should  come,  or 
look  we  for  another  V  To  confess,  still  more  to  state,  that  John 
the  Baptist  had  his  doubts  concerning  the  character  of  Jesus, 
could  not  but  afford  a  handle  to  cavil  and  objection.  But 
truth,  like  honesty,  neglects  appearances.  The  same  observa- 
tion, perhaps,  holds  concerning  the  apostacy  of  Judas.2    i 

John  vi.  66.  '  From  that  time  many  of  his  disciples  went 
back,  and  walked  no  more  with  him.'  Was  it  the  part  of  a 
writer,  who  dealt  in  suppression  and  disguise,  to  put  down  this 
anecdote  ? 

Or  this,  which  Matthew  has  preserved  [xiii.  58]  ?  '  He  did 
not  many  mighty  works  there,  because  of  their  unbelief.' 

1  Vol.  ix.  c.  50,  note  96. 
5  T  bad  once  placed  amongst  these  examples  of  fair  concession,  the  remarkable  words 
of  St.  Matthew,  in  his  account  of  Christ's  appearance  upon  the  Galilean  mountain: 
'  And  when  they  saw  him  they  worshipped  him,  but  some  doubted.'*  I  have  since, 
however,  been  convinced,  by  what  is  observed  concerning  this  passage  in  Dr.  Towns- 
bend's  Discoursef  upon  the  resurrection,  thai  t lie  transaction,  as  related  by  St.  Mat- 
tin  iw,  was  really  this:  'Christ  appeared  first  at  a  distance;  the  greater  part  of  the 
company,  the  moment  they  saw  him,  worshipped,  but  some,  as  yet,  i.e.  upon  this 
lii-t  distant  view  of  his  person,  doubted;  whereupon  Christ  came  up\  to  them,  and 
spake  to  them,'  &c:  that  the  doubt,  therefore,  was  a  doubt  only  at  first,  for  a  mo- 
nnnt.  and  upon  his  being  seen  at  a  distance,  and  was  afterwards  dispelled  by  his 
nearer  approach,  and  by  his  entering  into  conversation  with  them. 


*  Ch.  xxviii.  17.  tPafe'e  m- 

t  St.  Matthew's  words  are  Kui  ir.»o.Tt>flv  i'.tj'nUi  i\i\rrrci'  «»>  r.  This  intimates, 
that,  when  he  first  appeared,  it  was  at  a  distance,  at  least  from  many  of  the  specta- 
tors — Ibid,  p    I'iT. 


Chap,  iii.]    Candor  of  the  Writers  of  the  New  Testament.     251 

Again,  in  the  same  evangelist  [v.  17,  18].  'Think  not  that 
I  am  come  to  destroy  the  law  or  the  prophets ;  I  am  not  come 
to  destroy,  but  to  fulfil ;  for,  verily,  I  say  unto  you,  till  heaven 
and  earth  pass,  one  jot,  or  one  tittle,  shall  in  no  wise  pass  from 
the  law,  till  all  be  fulfilled.'  At  the  time  the  gospels  were 
written,  the  apparent  tendency  of  Christ's  mission  was  to 
diminish  the  authority  of  the  Mosaic  code,  and  it  was  so  con- 
sidered by  the  Jews  themselves.  It  is  very  improbable,  there- 
fore, that,  without  the  constraint  of  truth,  Matthew  should 
have  ascribed  a  saying  to  Christ,  which, jprimo  intuitu,  militated 
with  the  judgment  of  the  age  in  which  his  gospel  was  written. 
Marcion  thought  this  text  so  objectionable,  that  he  altered  the 
words,  so  as  to  invert  the  sense.1 

Once  more,  Acts  xxv.  19.  '  They  brought  none  accusation 
against  him,  of  such  things,  as  I  supposed,  but  had  certain 
questions  against  him  of  their  own  superstition,  and  of  one 
Jesus  which  was  dead,  whom  Paul  affirmed  to  be  alive.'  Nothing 
could  be  more  in  the  character  of  a  Roman  governor  than  these 
words.  But  that  is  not  precisely  the  point  I  am  concerned 
with.  A  mere  panegyrist,  or  a  dishonest  narrator,  would  not 
have  represented  his  cause,  or  have  made  a  great  magistrate 
represent  it,  in  this  manner,  i.e.,  in  terms  not  a  little  disparag- 
ing, and  bespeaking,  on  his  part,  much  unconcern  and  indiffe- 
rence about  the  matter.  The  same  observation  may  be  repeated 
of  the  speech  which  is  ascribed  to  Gallio  (Acts  viii.  14).  '  If  it 
be  a  question  of  words,  and  names,  and  of  your  law,  look  ye  to 
it,  for  I  will  be  no  judge  of  such  matters.' 

Lastly,  where  do  we  discern  a  stronger  mark  of  candor, 
or  less  disposition  to  extol  and  magnify,  than  in  the  con- 
clusion of  the  same  history  ?  in  which  the  evangelist,  after 
relating  that  Paul,  upon  his  first  arrival  at  Rome,  preached 
to  the  Jews  from  morning  until  evening,  adds,  '  And  some 
believed  the  things  which  were  spoken,  and  some  believed 
not.' 

The  following,  I  think,  are  passages  which  were  very 
unlikely  to  have  presented  themselves  to  the  mind  of  a  forger 
or  a  fabulist. 

Matt.  xxi.  21.     '  Jesus  answered  and  said  unto  them,  Verily 

1  Lard.  vol.  xv.  p.  422. 


-•"'-  Evidences  of  Christianity.  [Part  II. 

I  say  unto  you,  if  ye  have  faith  and  doubt  not,  ye  shall  not 
only  do  this,  which  is  done  unto  the  fig-tree,  but  also,  if  ye 
shall  say  unto  tin's  mountain,  Be  thou  removed,  and  be  thou 
cast  into  the  sea,  it  shall  be  done ;  all  things  whatsoever  ye 
shall  ask  in  prayer,  believing,  it  shall  be  done.'1  It  appears  to 
me  very  improbable  that  these  words  should  have  been  put  into 
Christ's  mouth,  if  he  had  not  actually  spoken  them.  The  term 
'faith,'  as  here  used,  is  perhaps  rightly  interpreted  of  confi- 
dence in  that  internal  notice,  by  M'hich  the  apostles  were 
admonished  of  their  power  to  perform  any  particular  miracle. 
And  this  exposition  renders  the  sense  of  the  text  more  easy. 
But  the  words,  undoubtedly,  in  their  obvious  construction, 
carry  with  them  a  difficulty,  which  no  writer  would  have 
brought  upon  himself  officiously. 

Luke  ix.  59.  '  And  he  said  unto  another,  Follow  me ;  but 
he  said,  Lord,  suffer  me,  first,  to  go  and  bury  my  father. 
Jesus  said  unto  him,  Let  the  dead  bury  their  dead,  but  go 
thou  and  preach  the  kingdom  of  God."  This  answer,  though 
very  expressive  of  the  transcendent  importance  of  religious 
concerns,  was  apparently  harsh  and  repulsive  ;  and  sitch  as 
would  not  have  been  made  for  Christ,  if  he  had  not  Really 
used  it.  At  least,  some  other  instance  would  have  been 
chosen. 

The  following  passage,  I,  for  the  same  reason,  think  impos- 
sible to  have  been  the  production  of  artifice,  or  of  a  cold  for- 
gery : — '  But  I  say  unto  you,  that  whosoever  is  angry  with  his 
brother,  without  a  cause,  shall  be  in  danger  of  the  judgment? 
and  whosoever  shall  say  to  his  brother,  Raca,  shall  be  in 
danger  of  the  council ;  but  whosoever  shall  say,  Thou  fool, 
shall  be  in  danger  of  hell  fire  [Gehennse].'  Matt.  v.  22.  It 
is  emphatic,  cogent,  and  well  calculated  for  the  purpose  of 
impression;  but  is  inconsistent  with  the  supposition  of  art  or 
wariness  on  the  part  of  the  relator. 

The  short  reply  of  our  Lord  to  Mary  Magdalen  after  his 
ressurrection  (John  xx.  lfi,  17),  'Touch  me  not,  for  I  am  not 
yet  ascended  unto  my  Father,'  in  my  opinion,  must  have  been 
founded  in  a  reference  or  allusion  to  some  prior  conversation, 
for  the  want  of  knowing  which,  his  meaning  is  hidden  from  us. 

1  See  also  xvii.  20.     Luke  xvii.  G.  9  See  also  Matt.  viii.  21. 


Chap,  iii.]   Candor  of the  Writers  of  the  New  Testament.      253 

This  very  obscurity,  however,  is  a  proof  of  genuineness.  No 
one  would  have  forged  such  an  answer. 

John  vi.  The  whole  of  the  conversation,  recorded  in  this 
chapter,  is,  in  the  highest  degree,  unlikely  to  be  fabricated, 
especially  the  part  of  our  Saviour's  reply  between  the  fiftieth 
and  the  fifty-eighth  verse.  I  need  only  put  down  the  first  sen- 
tence. '  I  am  the  living  bread  which  came  down  from 
heaven  :  if  any  man  eat  of  this  bread,  he  shall  live  for  ever; 
and  the  bread  that  I  will  give  him  is  my  flesh,  which  I  will  give 
for  the  life  of  the  world.'  "Without  calling  in  question  the  expo- 
sitions that  have  been  given  of  this  passage,  we  may  be  per- 
mitted to  say,  that  it  labors  under  an  obscurity,  in  which  it  is 
impossible  to  believe  that  any  one,  who  made  speeches  for  the 
persons  of  his  narrative,  would  have  voluntarily  involved  them. 
That  this  discourse  was  obscure  even  at  the  time,  is  confessed 
by  the  writer  who  has  preserved  it,  when  he  tells  us  at  the  con- 
clusion, that  many  of  our  Lord's  disciples,  when  they  had  heard 
this,  said,  'This  is  a  hard  saying,  who  can  bear  it?' 

Christ's  taking  of  a  young  child,  and  placing  it  in  the  midst 
of  his  contentious  disciples  (Matt,  xviii.  2),  though  as  decisive 
a  proof,  as  any  could  be,  of  the  benignity  of  his  temper,  and 
very  expressive  of  the  character  of  the  religion  which  he  wished 
to  inculcate,  was  not  by  any  means  an  obvious  thought.  Nor 
am  I  acquainted  writh  anything  in  any  ancient  writing  which 
resembles  it. 

The  account  of  the  institution  of  the  Eucharist  bears  strong 
internal  marks  of  genuineness.  If  it  had  been  feigned,  it 
would  have  been  more  full.  It  would  have  come  nearer  to  the 
actual  mode  of  celebrating  the  rite,  as  that  mode  obtained 
very  early  in  christian  churches  :  and  it  would  have  been  more 
formal  than  it  is.  In  the  forged  piece  called  the  Apostolic 
Constitutions,  the  apostles  are  made  to  enjoin  many  parts  of 
the  ritual  which  was  in  use  in  the  second  and  third  centuries 
with  as  much  particularity  as  a  modern  rubric  could  have  done. 
Whereas,  in  the  history  of  the  Lord's  supper,  as  we  read  it  in 
St.  Matthew's  gospel,  there  is  not  so  much  as  the  command  to 
repeat  it.  This,  surely,  looks  like  undesignedness.  I  think 
also  that  the  difficulty  arising  from  the  conciseness  of  Christ's 
expression,  'This  is  my  body,'  would  have  been  avoided  in  a 
made-up  story.     I  allow  that  the  explication  of  these  wrords, 


25i  Evidences  of  Christianity.  [Part  II. 

given  by  Protestants,  is  satisfactory  ;  but  it  is  deduced  from  a 
diligent  comparison  of  the  words  in  question  with  forms  of 
expression  used  in  scripture,  and  especially  by  Christ,  upon 
other  occasions.  No  writer  would  arbitrarily  and  unneces- 
sarily have  thus  cast  in  his  reader's  way  a  difficulty,  which, 
to  say  the  least,  it  required  research  and  erudition  to  clear  up. 

Now  it  ought  to  be  observed,  that  the  argument  which  is 
built  upon  these  examples,  extends  both  to  the  authenticity  of 
the  books  and  to  the  truth  of  the  narrative :  for  it  is  impro- 
bable, that  the  forger  of  a  history  in  the  name  of  another 
should  have  inserted  such  passages  into  it :  and  it  is  impro- 
bable also,  that  the  persons  whose  names  the  books  bear  should 
have  fabricated  such  passages  ;  or  even  have  allowed  them  a 
place  in  their  work,  if  they  had  not  believed  them  to  express 
the  truth. 

The  following  observation,  therefore,  of  Dr.  Lardner,  the  most 
candid  of  all  advocates,  and  the  most  cautious  of  all  inquirers, 
seems  to  be  well-founded: — '  Christians  are  induced  to  believe 
the  writers  of  the  gospel,  by  observing  the  evidences  of  piety 
and  probity  that  appear  in  their  writings,  in  which  there  is  no 
deceit  or  artifice,  or  cunning  or  design.'  '  No  remarks,'  js  Dr. 
Beattie  hath  properly  said,  '  are  thrown  in  to  anticipate  objec- 
tions ;  nothing  of  that  caution,  which  never  fails  to  distinguish 
the  testimony  of  those  who  are  conscious  of  imposture ;  no  en- 
deavor to  reconcile  the  reader's  mind  to  what  may  be  extraor- 
dinary in  the  narrative.' 

I  beg  leave  to  cite  also  another  author,1  who  has  well  ex- 
pressed the  reflection  which  the  examples  now  brought  forward 
were  intended  to  suggest.  '  It  doth  not  appear  that  ever  it 
came  into  the  mind  of  these  writers,  to  consider  how  this  or 
the  other  action  would  appear  to  mankind,  or  what  objections 
might  be  raised  upon  them.  But,  without  at  all  attending  to 
this,  they  lay  the  facts  before  you,  at  no  pains  to  think  whether 
they  would  appear  credible  or  not.  If  the  reader  will  not 
believe  their  testimony,  there  is  no  help  for  it :  they  tell  the 
truth,  and  attend  to  nothing  else.  Surely  this  looks  like  sin- 
cerity, and  that  they  published  nothing  to  the  world  but  what 
they  believed  themselves.' 

As  no  improper  supplement  to  this  chapter,  I  crave  a  place 

1  Duchal,  pp.  97,  98. 


Chap,  iii.]   Candor  of  the  Writers  of  the  New  Testament.     255 

here  for  observing  the  extreme  naturalness  of  sonie  of  the 
things  related  in  the  New  Testament. 

Mark  ix.  23.  '  Jesus  said  unto  him,  If  thou  canst  believe, 
all  things  are  possible  to  him  that  believeth.  And  straightway 
the  father  of  the  child  cried  out,  and  said  with  tears,  Lord,  I 
believe,  help  thou  mine  unbelief.'  The  struggle  in  the  father's 
heart,  between  solicitude  for  the  preservation  of  his  child,  and 
a  kind  of  involuntary  distrust  of  Christ's  power  to  heal  him,  is 
here  expressed  with  an  air  of  reality,  which  could  hardly  be 
counterfeited. 

Again  (Matt.  xxi.  9),  the  eagerness  of  the  people  to  introduce 
Christ  into  Jerusalem,  and  their  demand,  a  short  time  after- 
wards, of  his  crucifixion,  when  he  did  not  turn  out  what  they 
expected  him  to  be,  so  far  from  affording  matter  of  objection, 
represents  popular  favor  in  exact  agreement  with  nature  and 
with  experience,  as  the  flux  and  reflux  of  a  wave. 

The  Rulers  and  Pharisees  rejecting  Christ,  whilst  the  com- 
mon people  received  him,  was  the  effect  which,  in  the  then  state 
of  Jewish  prejudices,  I  should  have  expected.  And  the  reason 
with  which  they  who  rejected  Christ's  mission  kept  themselves 
in  countenance,  and  with  which  also  they  answered  the  argu- 
ments of  those  who  favored  it,  is  precisely  the  reason  which 
such  men  usually  give  : — '  Have  any  of  the  Scribes  or  Pharisees 
believed  on  him?'     John  vii.  48. 

In  our  Lord's  conversation  at  the  well  (John  iv.  29),  Christ 
had  surprised  the  Samaritan  woman  with  an  allusion  to  a  single 
particular  in  her  domestic  situation,  'Thou  hast  had  five  hus- 
bands, and  he,  whom  thou  now  hast,  is  not  thy  husband.'  The 
woman,  soon  after  this,  ran  back  to  the  city,  and  called  out  to 
her  neighbors,  '  Come,  see  a  man  which  told  me  all  things 
that  ever  I  did.'  This  exaggeration  appears  to  me  very  natural ; 
especially  in  the  hurried  state  of  spirits  into  which  the  woman 
may  be  supposed  to  have  been  thrown. 

The  lawyer's  subtlety  in  running  a  distinction  upon  the  word 
neighbor,  in  the  precept  'Thou  shalt  love  thy  neighbor  as 
thyself,'  was  no  less  natural  than  our  Saviour's  answer  was  de- 
cisive and  satisfactory.  (Luke  x.  29.)  The  lawyer  of  the  New 
Testament,  it  must  be  observed,  was  a  Jewish  divine. 

The  behavior  of  Gallio,  Acts  xviii.  12-17,  and  of  Festus, 
xxv.  18,  19,  have  been  observed  upon  already. 


256  Evidences  of  Christianity.  [Part  II. 

The  consistency  of  St.  Paul's  character  throughout  the  whole 
of  his  history,  (viz.  the  warmth  and  activity  of  his  zeal,  first 
against,  and  then  for  Christianity)  carries  with  it  very  much 
the  appearance  of  truth. 

There  are  also  some  proprieties,  as  they  may  be  called,  ob- 
servable in  the  gospels ;  that  is,  circumstances  separately  suit- 
ing with  the  situation,  character,  and  intention  of  their  respec- 
tive authors. 

St.  Matthew,  who  was  an  inhabitant  of  Galilee,  and  did  not 
join  Christ's  society  until  some  time  after  Christ  had  come  into 
Galilee  to  preach,  has  given  us  very  little  of  his  history  prior 
to  that  period.  St.  John,  who  had  been  converted  before,  and 
who  wrote  to  supply  omissions  in  the  other  gospels,  relates 
some  remarkable  particulars,  which  had  taken  place  before 
Christ  left  Judea  to  go  into  Galilee.1 

St.  Matthew  [xv.  1]  has  recorded  the  cavil  of  the  Pharisees 
against  the  disciples  of  Jesus,  for  eating  'with  unclean  hands.' 
St.  Mark  has  also  [vii.  1]  recorded  the  same  transaction  (taken 
probably  from  St.  Matthew),  but  with  this  addition,  '  For  the 
Pharisees,  and  all  the  Jews,  except  they  wash  their  hands 
often,  eat  not,  holding  the  tradition  of  the  elders;  and^when 
they  come  from  the  market,  except  they  wash  they  eat  not ; 
and  many  other  things  there  be  which  they  have  received  to 
hold,  as  the  washing  of  cups  and  pots,  brazen  vessels,  and  of 
tables.'  Now  St.  Matthew  was  not  only  a  Jew  himself,  but  it 
is  evident,  from  the  whole  structure  of  his  gospel,  especially 
from  his  numerous  references  to  the  Old  Testament,  that  he 
wrote  for  Jewish  readers.  The  above  explanation  therefore  in 
him  would  have  been  unnatural,  as  not  being  wanted  by  the 
leaders  whom  he  addressed.  But  in  Mark,  who,  whatever  use 
he  might  make  of  Matthew's  gospel,  intended  his  own  nar- 
rative for  a  general  circulation,  and  who  himself  travelled  to 
distant  countries  in  the  service  of  the  religion,  it  was  properly 
added. 


1  Hartley's  Obs.  vol.  ii.  p.  103. 


Chap,  iv.]  Identity  of  Christ's  Character.  257 

CHAPTER  IT. 

Identity  of  Christ's  Character. 

THE  argument  expressed  by  this  title  I  apply  principally  to 
the  comparison  of  the  three  first  gospels  with  that  of  St.  John. 
It  is  known  to  every  reader  of  scripture,  that  the  passages  of 
Christ's  history  preserved  by  St.  John,  are,  except  his  passion  and 
ressurrection,  for  the  most  part  different  from  those  which  are  de- 
livered by  the  other  evangelists.  And  I  think  the  ancient  account 
of  this  difference  to  be  the  true  one,  viz.  that  St.  John  wrote  after 
the  rest,  and  to  supply  what  he  thought  omissions  in  their  nar- 
ratives, of  which  the  principal  were  our  Saviour's  conferences 
with  the  Jews  at  Jerusalem,  and  his  discourses  to  his  apostles 
at  his  last  supper.  But  what  I  observe  in  the  comparison  of 
these  several  accounts  is,  that,  although  actions  and  discourses 
are  ascribed  to  Christ  by  St.  John,  in  general  different  from 
what  are  given  to  him  by  the  other  evangelists,  yet,  under  this 
diversity,  there  is  a  similitude  of  manner,  which  indicates  that 
the  actions  and  discourses  proceed  from  the  same  person.  I 
should  have  laid  little  stress  upon  a  repetition  of  actions  sub- 
stantially alike,  or  of  discourses  containing  many  of  the  same 
expressions,  because  that  is  a  species  of  resemblance,  which 
would  either  belong  to  a  true  history,  or  might  easily  be 
imitated  in  a  false  one.  Nor  do  I  deny,  that  a  dramatic  writer 
is  able  to  sustain  propriety  and  distinction  of  character,  through 
a  great  variety  of  separate  incidents  and  situations.  But  the 
evangelists  were  not  dramatic  writers ;  nor  possessed  the  talents 
of  dramatic  writers ;  nor  will  it,  I  believe,  be  suspected,  that 
they  studied  uniformity  of  character,  or  ever  thought  of  any 
such  thing,  in  the  person  who  was  the  subject  of  their  his- 
tories. Such  uniformity,  if  it  exist,  is  on  their  part  casual ; 
and  if  there  be,  as  I  contend  there  is,  a  perceptible  resemblance 
of  manner,  in  passages,  and  between  discourses,  which  are  in 
themselves  extremely  distinct,  and  are  delivered  by  historians 
writing  without  any  imitation  of,  or  reference  to,  one  another, 
it  affords  a  just  presumption,  that  these  are,  what  they  profess 
to  be,  the  actions  and  the  discourses  of  the  same  real  person ; 
that  the  evangelists  wrote  from  fact,  and  not  from  imagination. 

17 


258  Evidences  of  Christianity.  [Part  II. 

The  article  in  which  I  find  this  agreement  most  strong,  is  in 
our  Saviour's  mode  of  teaching,  and  in  that  particular  property 
of  it,  which  consists  in  his  drawing  of  his  doctrine  from  the  oc- 
casion ;  or,  which  is  nearly  the  same  thing,  raising  reflections 
from  the  objects  and  incidents  before  him,  or  turning  a  par- 
ticular discourse  then  passing  into  an  opportunity  of  general 
instruction. 

It  will  be  my  business  to  point  out  this  manner  in  the  three 
first  evangelists  ;  and  then  to  inquire  whether  it  do  not  appear 
also,  in  several  examples  of  Christ's  discourses  preserved  by 
St.  John. 

The  reader  will  observe  in  the  following  quotations,  that  the 
Italic  letter  contains  the  reflection,  the  common  letter  the  inci- 
dent or  occasion  from  which  it  springs. 

Matt.  xii.  40,  50.  'Then  they  said  unto  him,  Behold  thy 
mother  and  thy  brethren  stand  without,  desiring  to  speak  with 
thee.  But  he  answered,  and  said  unto  him  that  told  him,  Who 
is  my  mother  ?  and  who  are  my  brethren  ?  And  he  stretched 
forth  his  hands  towards  his  disciples,  and  said,  Behold  my 
mother  and  my  brethren  ;  for  whosoever  shall  do  the  will  of  my 
Father  which  is  in  heaven,  the  same  is  my  brother,  and  Itfster, 
and  mother.' 

Matt.  xvi.  5.  'And  when  his  disciples  were  come  to  the 
other  side,  they  had  forgotten  to  take  bread ;  then  Jesus  said 
unto  them,  Take  heed,  and  beware  of  the  leaven  of  the  Pharisees, 
and  of  the  Sadducees.'  And  they  reasoned  among  themselves, 
saying,  It  is  because  we  have  taken  no  bread. — How  is  it  that 
ye  do  not  understand,  that  I  spake  it  not  to  you  concerning 
bread,  that  ye  should  beware  of  the  leaven  of  the  Pharisees,  and 
of  the  Sadducees?  Then  understood  they  how  that  he  bade 
them  not  beware  of  the  leaven  of  bread,  but  of  the  doctrine  of 
the  Pharisees  and  of  the  Sadducees.'' 

Matt.  xv.  1,  2,  10,  11,  17-20.  'Then  came  to  Jesus  Scribes 
and  Pharisees,  which  were  of  Jerusalem,  saying,  Why  do  thy 
disciples  transgress  the  traditions  of  the  elders?  for  they  wash 

not  their  hands  when  they  eat  bread. And  he  called  the 

multitude,  and  said  unto  them,  Hear  and  understand,  Not  that 
which-  goeth  into  the  mouth  dejileth  a  man,  but  that  which  cometh 

out  of  the  mouth,  this  dejileth  a  man. Then  answered  Peter, 

and  said  unto  him,  Declare  unto  us  this  parable.     And  Jesus 


Chap,  iv.]  Identity  of  Christ's  Character.  259 

said,  Are  ye  also  yet  without  understanding  ?  Do  ye  not  yet 
understand,  that  whatsoever  entereth  in  at  the  mouth,  goeth 
into  the  belly,  and  is  cast  out  into  the  draught  ?  but  those 
things  which  proceed  out  of  the  mouth  come  forth  from  the 
heart,  and  they  defile  the  man  ;  for  out  of  the  heart  proceed  evil 
thoughts,  murders,  adulteries,  fornications,  thefts,  false  witness, 
blasphemies ;  these  are  the  things  which  defile  a  man,  but  to 

EAT     WITH     UNW  ASHEN     HANDS      DEFILETH     NOT    A    MAN."         Olll* 

Saviour,  upon  this  occasion,  expatiates  rather  more  at  large 
than  usual,  and  his  discourse  also  is  more  divided  ;  but  the  con- 
cluding sentence  brings  back  the  whole  train  of  thought  to  the 
incident  in  the  first  verse,  viz.  the  objurgatory  question  of  the 
Pharisees,  and  renders  it  evident  that  the  whole  sprung  from 
that  circumstance. 

Mark  x.  13,  14,  15.  'And  they  brought  young  children  to 
him,  that  he  should  touch  them,  and  his  disciples  rebuked  those 
that  brought  them  ;  but  when  Jesus  saw  it,  he  was  much  dis- 
pleased, and  said  unto  them,  Suffer  the  little  children  to  come 
unto  me,  and  forbid  them  not,  for  of  such  is  the  kingdom  of 
God :  verily  I  say  unto  you,  whosoever  shall  not  receive  the 
kingdom  of  God  as  a  little  child,  he  shall  not  enter  therein? 

Mark  i.  16,  17.  '  Now  as  he  walked  by  the  sea  of  Galilee, 
he  saw  Simon  and  Andrew  his  brother  casting  a  net  into  the 
sea,  for  they  were  fishers;  and  Jesus  said  unto  them,  Come  ye 
after  me,  and  I  will  make  you  fishers  of  men? 

Luke  xi.  27.  '  And  it  came  to  pass  as  he  spake  these  things, 
a  certain  woman  of  the  company  lift  up  her  voice  and  said  unto 
him,  Blessed  is  the  womb  that  bare  thee,  and  the  paps  which 
thou  hast  sucked  ;  but  he  said,  Yea,  rather,  blessed  are  they 
that  hear  the  word  of  God,  and  keep  it? 

Luke  xiii.  1-5.  '  There  were  present  at  that  season  some 
that  told  him  of  the  Galileans,  whose  blood  Pilate  had  mingled 
with  their  sacrifices;  and  Jesus  answering  said  unto  them, 
Suppose  ye  that  these  Galileans  were  sinners  above  all  the  Gali- 
leans, because  they  suffered  such  things  f  I  tell  you  nay,  but 
except  ye  repent,  ye  shall  all  likewise  perish? 

Luke  xiv.  15.  '  And  when  one  of  them,  that  sat  at  meat 
with  him,  heard  these  things,  he  said  unto  him,  Blessed  is  he 
that  shall  eat  bread  in  the  kingdom  of  God.  Then  said  he 
unto  him,  A  certain  man  made  a  areat  supper,  and  bade  many,' 


260  Evidences  of  Christianity.  [Part  II. 

&c.  The  parable  is  rather  too  long  for  insertion,  but  affords  a 
striking  instance  of  Christ's  manner  of  raising  a  discourse  from 
the  occasion.  Observe  also  in  the  same  chapter  two  other 
examples  of  advice,  drawn  from  the  circumstances  of  the  enter- 
tainment and  the  behavior  of  the  guests. 

We  will  now  see,  how  this  manner  discovers  itself  in  St- 
John's  historv  of  Christ. 

John  vi.  26.  '  And  when  they  had  found  him  on  the  other 
side  of  the  sea,  they  said  unto  him,  Rabbi,  when  earnest  thou 
hither?  Jesus  answered  them,  and  said,  Yerily  I  say  unto 
you,  ye  seek  me  not  because  ye  saw  the  miracles,  but  because 
ye  did  eat  of  the  loaves  and  were  filled.  Labor  not  for  the 
meat  which  perisheth,  bid  for  that  meat  which  endureth  unto 
everlasting  life,  tohich  the  Son  of  Man  shall  give  unto  you' 

John  iv.  12.  '  Art  thou  greater  than  our  father  Abraham, 
who  gave  us  the  well,  and  drank  thereof  himself,  and  his  child- 
ren, and  his  cattle?  Jesus  answered  and  said  unto  her  [the 
woman  of  Samaria],  Whosoever  drinketh  of  this  water  shall 
thirst  again,  but  whosoever  drinketh  of  the  water  that  L  shall 
give  him,  shall  never  thirst  f  but  the  water  that  L  shall,  give 
him,  shall  be  in  Mm  a  well  of  water,  springing  up  into^ever 
lasting  life.' 

John  iv.  31.  '  In  the  meanwhile,  his  disciples  prayed  him, 
saying,  Master,  eat ;  but  he  said  unto  them,  I  have  meat  to  eat 
that  ye  know  not  of.  Therefore  said  the  disciples  one  to 
another,  Hath  any  man  brought  him  aught  to  eat?  Jesus  saith 
unto  them,  My  meat  is,  to  do  the  will  of  him  that  sent  me,  and 
to  finish  his  work.' 

John  ix.  1-5.  '  And  as  Jesus  passed  by,  he  saw  a  man 
which  was  blind  from  his  birth :  and  his  disciples  asked  him, 
saving,  Who  did  sin,  this  man  or  his  parents,  that  he  was  born 
blind  ?  Jesus  answered,  Neither  hath  this  man  sinned,  nor  his 
parents,  but  that  the  works  of  God  should  be  made  manifest  in 
him.  I  must  work  the  works  of  him  that  sent  me,  while  it  is 
day  .'  the  night  cometh,  'when  no  man  can  work.  As  long  as  1 
am  in  the  world,  I  am  the  light  of  the  world.' 

John  ix.  35-40.  '  Jesus  heard  that  they  had  cast  him  [the 
blind  man  above-mentioned]  out ;  and  when  he  had  found  him, 
he  said  unto  him,  Dost  thou  believe  on  the  Son  of  God  ?  And 
he  answered  and  said,  Who  is  he.  Lord,  that  I  might  believe  on 


Chap,  iv.]  Identity  of  Christ's  Character.  261 

him  ?  And  Jesus  said  unto  him,  Thou  hast  both  seen  him, 
and  it  is  he  that  talketh  with  thee.  And  he  said,  Lord,  I  be- 
lieve ;  and  he  worshipped  him.  And  Jesus  said,  For  judgment 
I  am  come  into  this  world,  that  they  which  see  not  might  see, 
and  that  they  which  see  might  he  made  blind? 

All  that  the  reader  has  now  to  do,  is  to  compare  the  series  of 
examples  taken  from  St.  John,  with  the  series  of  examples  taken 
from  the  other  evangelists,  and  to  judge  whether  there  be  not  a 
visible  agreement  of  manner  between  them.  In  the  above 
quoted  passages,  the  occasion  is  stated,  as  well  as  the  reflection. 
They  seem  therefore  the  most  proper  for  the  purpose  of  our 
argument.  A  large,  however,  and  curious  collection  has  been 
made  by  different  writers,1  of  instances,  in  which  it  is  extremely 
probable  that  Christ  spoke  in  allusion  to  some  object,  or  some 
occasion  then  before  him,  though  the  mention  of  the  occasion, 
or  of  the  object,  be  omitted  in  the  history.  I  only  observe  that 
these  instances  are  common  to  St.  John's  Gospel  with  the  other 
three. 

I  conclude  this  article  by  remarking,  that  nothing  of  this 
manner  is  perceptible  in  the  speeches  recorded  in  the  Acts,  or 
in  any  other  but  those  which  are  attributed  to  Christ,  and  that, 
in  truth,  it  was  a  very  unlikely  manner  for  a  forger  or  fabulist 
to  attempt ;  and  a  manner  very  difficult  for  any  writer  to  exe- 
cute, if  he  had  to  supply  all  the  materials,  both  the  incidents, 
and  the  observations  upon  them,  out  of  his  own  head.  A  forger 
or  a  fabulist  would  have  made  for  Christ  discourses  exhorting  to 
virtue  and  dissuading  from  vice  in  general  terms.  It  would 
never  have  entered  into  the  thoughts  of  either,  to  have  crowded 
together  such  a  number  of  allusions,  to  time,  place,  and  other 
little  circumstances,  as  occur,  for  instance,  in  the  sermon  on 
the  mount,  and  which  nothing  but  the  actual  presence  of  the 
objects  could  have  suggested.2 

II.  There  appears  to  me  to  exist  an  affinity  between  the  his- 
tory of  Christ's  placing  a  little  child  in  the  midst  of  his  disciples, 
as  related  by  the  three  first  evangelists,3  and  the  history  of 
Christ's  washing  his  disciples'  feet,  as  given  by  St.  John.4     In 


'Newton  On  Daniel,  p.  148,  note  a;  Jortin,  Lis.  p.  213;  Bishop  Law's  Life  of 
Christ. 

2  See  Bishop  Law's  Life  of  Christ. 
'  Matt  xviii.  1 ;  Mark  ix.  33  ;  Luke  ix.  46.  4  Ch.  xiii.  3. 


262  Evidences  of  Christianity.  [Part  IT. 

the  stories  themselves  there  is  no  resemblance.  But  the  affinity 
which  I  would  point  out,  consists  in  these  two  articles :  first, 
that  both  stories  denote  the  emulation  which  prevailed  amongst 
Christ's  disciples,  and  his  own  care  and  desire  to  correct  it. 
The  moral  of  both  is  the  same.  Secondly,  that  both  stories  are 
specimens  of  the  same  manner  of  teaching,  viz.  by  action ;  a 
mode  of  emblematic  instruction  extremely  peculiar,  and,  in 
these  passages,  ascribed,  we  see,  to  our  Saviour,  by  the  three 
first  evangelists  and  by  St.  John,  in  instances  totally  unlike, 
and  without  the  smallest  suspicion  of  their  borrowing  from 
each  other. 

III.  A  singularity  in  Christ's  language,  which  runs  through 
all  the  evangelists,  and  which  is  found  in  those  discourses  of  St. 
John  that  have  nothing  similar  to  them  in  the  other  gospels,  is 
the  appellation  of  '  the  Son  of  Man ;'  and  it  is  in  all  the 
evangelists  found  under  the  peculiar  circumstance  of  being 
applied  by  Christ  to  himself,  but  of  never  being  used  of  him, 
or  towards  him,  by  any  other  person.  It  occurs  seventeen  times 
in  Matthew's  gospel,  twelve  times  in  Mark's,  twenty-one  times 
in  Luke's,  and  eleven  times  in  John's,  and  always  with  this 
restriction.  ^ 

IV.  A  point  of  agreement  in  the  conduct  of  Christ,  as 
represented  by  his  different  historians,  is  that  of  his  withdraw- 
ing himself  out  of  the  way,  whenever  the  behavior  of  the  mul- 
titude indicated  a  disposition  to  tumult. 

Matt.  xiv.  22.  '  And  straightway  Jesus  constrained  his  disci- 
ples to  get  into  a  ship,  and  to  go  before  him  unto  the  other  side, 
while  he  sent  the  multitude  away.  And  when  he  had  sent  the 
multitude  away,  he  went  up  into  a  mountain  apart  to  pray.' 

Luke  v.  15,  16.  '  But  so  much  the  more  went  there  a  fame 
abroad  of  him,  and  great  multitudes  came  together  to  hear,  and 
to  be  healed  by  him  of  their  infirmities :  and  he  withdrew  him- 
self into  the  wilderness  and  prayed.' 

"With  these  quotations  compare  the  following  from  St.  John. 

Chap.  v.  13.  '  And  he  that  was  healed  wist  not  who  it  was, 
for  Jesus  had  conveyed  himself  away,  a  multitude  being  in  that 
place.' 

Chap.  vi.  15.  '  "When  Jesus  therefore  perceived  that  they 
would  come  and  take  him  by  force  to  make  him  a  king,  he 
departed  again  into  a  mountain  by  himself  alone.' 


Chap,  iv.]  Identity  of  Christ's  Character.  263 

In  this  last  instance  St.  John  gives  the  motive  of  Christ's 
conduct,  which  is  left  unexplained  by  the  other  evangelists,  who 
have  related  the  conduct  itself. 

V.  Another,  and  a  more  singular  circumstance  in  Christ's 
ministry,  was  the  reserve,  which  for  some  time,  and  upon  some 
occasions  at  least,  he  used  in  declaring  his  own  character,  and 
his  leaving  it  to  be  collected  from  his  works  rather  than  his 
professions.  Just  reasons  for  this  reserve  have  been  assigned.1 
But  it  is  not  what  one  would  have  expected.  We  met  with  it 
in  Matthew's  gospel  (xvi.  20),  '  Then  charged  he  his  disciples 
that  they  should  tell  no  man  that  he  was  Jesus  the  Christ.'  Again, 
and  upon  a  different  occasion,  in  Mark's  (iii.  11),  'And  nnclean 
spirits,  when  they  saw  him,  fell  down  before  him,  and  cried, 
saying,  Thou  art  the  Son  of  God ;  and  he  straitly  charged  them 
that  they  should  not  make  him  known.'  Another  instance  simi- 
lar to  this  last  is  recorded  by  St.  Luke  (iv.  41).  What  we  thus 
find  in  the  three  evangelists,  appears  also  in  a  passage  of  St. 
John  (x.  21,  35).  '  Then  came  the  Jews  round  about  him,  and 
said  unto  him,  How  long  dost  thou  make  us  to  doubt  ?  If 
thou  be  the  Christ  tell  us  plainly.'  The  occasion  here  was  dif- 
ferent from  any  of  the  rest ;  and  it  was  indirect.  We  only  dis- 
cover Christ's  conduct  through  the  upbraidings  of  his  adversa- 
ries. But  all  this  strengthens  the  argument.  I  had  rather  at 
any  time  surprise  a  coincidence  in  some  oblique  allusion,  than 
read  in  it  broad  assertions. 

VI.  In  our  Lord's  commerce  with  his  disciples,  one  very 
observable  particular  is  the  difficulty  which  they  found  in  under- 
standing him,  when  he  spoke  to  them  of  the  future  part  of  his 
history,  especially  of  what  related  to  his  passion  or  resurrection. 
This  difficulty  produced,  as  was  natural,  a  wish  in  them  to  ask 
for  further  explanation  ;  from  which,  however,  they  appear  to 
have  been  sometimes  kept  back,  by  the  fear  of  giving  offence. 
All  these  circumstances  are  distinctly  noticed  by  Mark  and 
Luke,  upon  the  occasion  of  his  informing  them  (probably  for 
the  first  time)  that  the  son  of  man  should  be  delivered  into  the 
hands  of  men.  '  They  understood  not,'  the  evangelists  tell  us, 
'  this  saying,  and  it  was  hid  from  them,  that  they  perceived  it 
not ;  and  they  feared  to  ask  him  of  that  saying.'     Luke  ix.  45. 


See  Locke's  Reasonableness  of  Christianity. 


2G4  Evidences  of  Christianity.  [Part  II. 

Mark  ix.  32.  In  St.  John's  gospel,  we  have,  upon  a  different 
occasion,  and  in  a  different  instance,  the  same  difficulty  of  ap- 
prehension, the  same  curiosity,  and  the  same  restraint : — '  A 
little  while  and  ye  shall  not  see  me,  and  again  a  little  while  and 
ye  shall  see  me,  because  I  go  to  the  Father.  Then  said  some 
of  his  disciples  among  themselves,  What  is  this  that  he  saith 
unto  us  ?  A  little  while  and  ye  shall  not  see  me,  and  again  a 
little  while  and  ye  shall  see  me,  and  because  I  go  to  the  Father  ? 
They  said,  therefore,  "What  is  this  that  he  saith,  a  little  while  ? 
We  cannot  tell  what  he  saith.  Now  Jesus  knew  that  they  were 
desirous  to  ask  him,  and  said  unto  them,'  &c.  John  xvi.  16  et 
seq. 

YII.  The  meekness  of  Christ  during  his  last  sufferings,  which 
is  conspicuous  in  the  narratives  of  the  three  first  evangelists,  is 
preserved  in  that  of  St.  John  under  separate  examples.  The 
answer  given  by  him,  in  St.  John,3  when  the  high  priest  asked 
him  of  his  disciples  and  his  doctrine,  '  I  spake  openly  to  the 
world,  I  ever  taught  in  the  synagogue,  and  in  the  temple, 
whither  the  Jews  always  resort,  and  in  secret  have  I  said  nothing; 
why  askest  thou  me  ?  Ask  them  which  heard  me,  what  I  have 
said  unto  them ;'  is  very  much  of  a  piece  with  his  reply  $>  the 
armed  party  which  seized  him,  as  we  read  in  St.  Mark's  gospel, 
and  in  St.  Luke's  :a  '  Are  ye  come  out  as  against  a  thief  with 
swords  and  with  staves  to  take  me  ?  I  was  daily  with  you  in 
the  tem])le  teaching,  and  ye  took  me  not.'  In  both  answers 
we  discern  the  same  tranquillity,  the  same  reference  to  his 
public  teaching.  His  mild  expostulation  with  Pilate  upon  two 
several  occasions,  as  related  by  St.  John,'  is  delivered  with  the 
same  unruffled  temper,  as  that  which  conducted  him  through 
the  last  scene  of  his  life,  as  described  by  his  other  evangelists. 
His  answer,  in  St.  John's  gospel,  to  the  officer  who  struck  him 
with  the  palm  of  his  hand,  'If  I  have  spoken  evil,  bear  witness 
of  the  evil,  but  if  well,  why  smitest  thou  me  ?'4  was  such  an 
answer,  as  might  have  been  looked  for  from  the  person,  who,  as 
he  proceeded  to  the  place  of  execution,  bid  his  companions  (as 
we  are  told  by  St.  Luke6)  weep  not  for  him,  but  for  themselves, 
their  posterity,  and  their  country ;  and  who,  whilst  he  was  sus- 


1  Ch.  xviii.  20.  s  Mark  xiv.  48;  Luko  xxii.  52.         9  Ch.  xviii.  34;  xix.  11. 

1  Ch.  xxviii.  23.  6  Ch.  xxiii.  28. 


Chap,  iv.]  Identity  of  Christ's  Character.  265 

pended  upon  the  cross,  prayed  for  his  murderers,  '  for  they 
know  not  [said  he]  what  they  do.'  The  urgency  also  of  his 
judges  and  his  prosecutors  to  extort  from  him  a  defence  to  the 
accusation,  and  his  unwillingness  to  make  any  (which  was  a 
peculiar  circumstance)  appears  in  St.  John's  account,  as  well  as 
in  that  of  the  other  evangelists.1 

There  are  moreover  two  other  correspondencies  between  St. 
John's  history  of  the  transaction  and  theirs,  of  a  kind  some- 
what different  from  those  which  we  have  been  now  men- 
tioning. 

The  three  first  evangelists  record  what  is  called  our  Saviour's 
agony,  i.e.  his  devotion  in  the  garden  immediately  before  he 
was  apprehended  ;  in  which  narrative  they  all  make  him  pray, 
'  that  the  cup  might  pass  from  him.'  This  is  the  particular 
metaphor  which  they  all  ascribe  to  him.  St.  Matthew  adds, 
'  O  my  Father,  if  this  cup  may  not  pass  away  from  me,  except 
I  drink  it,  thy  will  be  done.'2  Now  St.  John  does  not  give 
the  scene  in  the  garden  ;  but  when  Jesus  was  seized,  and  some 
resistance  was  attempted  to  be  made  by  Peter,  Jesus,  according 
to  his  account,  checked  the  attempt  with  this  reply  :  '  Put  up 
\\\j  sword  into  the  sheath ;  the  cup  which  my  Father  hath 
given  me,  shall  I  not  drink  it?'3  This  is  something  more 
than  consistency :  it  is  coincidence ;  because  it  is  extremely 
natural,  that  Jesus,  who,  before  he  was  apprehended,  had  been 
praying  his  Father,  that  '  that  cup  might  pass  from  him,'  yet 
with  such  a  pious  retractation  of  his  request,  as  to  have  added, 
'  If  this  cup  may  not  pass  from  me,  thy  will  be  done  ;'  it  was 
natural,  I  say,  for  the  same  person,  when  he  actually  was 
apprehended,  to  express  the  resignation  to  which  he  had  already 
made  up  his  thoughts,  and  to  express  it  in  the  form  of  speech 
which  he  had  before  used,  '  The  cup  which  my  Father  hath 
given  me,  shall  I  not  drink  it?'  This  is  a  coincidence  between 
writers,  in  whose  narratives  there  is  no  imitation,  but  great 
diversity. 

A  second  similar  correspondency  is  the  following :  Matthew 
and  Mark  make  the  charge,  upon  which  our  Lord  was  con- 
demned, to  be  a  threat  of  destroying  the  temple ;  '  We  heard 


1  See  John  xix.  9 ;  Matt,  xxvii.  14 ;  Luke  xxiii.  9. 
2  Ch.  xxvi.  42.  s  Ch.  xviii.  11. 


266  Evidences  of  Christianity.  [Part  II. 

him  say,  I  will  destroy  this  temple,  made  with  hands,  and, 
within  three  days,  I  will  build  another  made  without  hands ;" 
but  they  neither  of  them  inform  us,  upon  what  circumstance 
this  calumny  was  founded.  St.  John,  in  the  early  part  of  the 
history,3  supplies  us  with  this  information  ;  for  he  relates,  that, 
upon  our  Lord's  first  journey  to  Jerusalem,  when  the  Jews 
asked  him,  '  "What  sign  showest  thou  unto  us,  seeing  that  thou 
doest  these  things?  he  answered,  Destroy  this  temple,  and  in 
three  days  I  will  raise  it  up.'  This  agreement  could  hardly 
arise  from  any  thing  but  the  truth  of  the  case.  From  any  care 
or  design  in  St.  John,  to  make  his  narrative  tally  with  the  nar- 
ratives of  the  other  evangelists,  i*  certainly  did  not  arise,  for 
no  such  design  appears,  but  the  absence  of  it. 

A  strong  and  more  general  instance  of  agreement,  is  the 
following :  The  three  first  evangelists  have  related  the  ap- 
pointment of  the  twelve  apostles  ;3  and  have  given  a  catalogue 
of  their  names  in  form.  John,  without  ever  mentioning  the 
appointment,  or  giving  the  catalogue,  supposes,  throughout  his 
whole  narrative,  Christ  to  be  accompanied  by  a  select  party  of 
disciples ;  the  number  of  these  to  be  twelve  ;4  and  whenever 
he  happens  to  notice  any  one  as  of  that  number,5  it  is  £ne 
included  in  the  catalogue  of  the  other  evangelists;  and  the  names 
principally  occurring  in  the  course  of  his  history  of  Christ,  are 
the  names  extant  in  their  list.  This  last  agreement,  which  is 
of  considerable  moment,  runs  through  every  gospel,  and  through 
every  chapter  of  each. 

All  this  bespeaks  reality. 


CHAPTER  V. 

Originality  of  our  Saviour's  Character. 

fTIIE  Jews,  whether  right  or  wrong,  had  understood  their  pro- 
-*-  phecies  to  foretell  the  advent  of  a  person,  who  by  some 
supernatural  assistance  should  advance  their  nation  to  inde- 
pendence, and   to   a   supreme  degree  of  splendor  and  pros- 

1  Mark  xiv.  5.  5  Ch.  ii.  19. 

s  Matt.  x.  1;   Mark  iii.  14;   Luke  vi.  12. 

*  Ch.  vi.  7.  r'  Ch.  xx.  24:  vi.  71. 


Chap,  v.]         Originality  of  Christ's  Character.  267 

perity.  This  was  the  reigning  opinion  and  expectation  of  the 
times. 

Now,  had  Jesus  been  an  enthusiast,  it  is  probable  that  his 
enthusiasm  would  have  fallen  in  with  the  popular  delusion,  and 
that,  whilst  he  gave  himself  out  to  be  the  person  intended  by 
these  predictions,  he  would  have  assumed  the  character  to  which 
they  were  universally  supposed  to  relate. 

Had  he  been  an  impostor,  it  was  his  business  to  have  flat- 
tered the  prevailing  hopes,  because  these  hopes  were  to  be  the 
instruments  of  his  attraction  and  success. 

But,  what  is  better  than  conjectures,  is  the  fact,  that  all  the 
pretended  Messiahs  actually  did  so.  We  learn  from  Josephus 
that  there  were  many  of  these.  Some  of  them,  it  is  probable, 
might  be  impostors,  who  thought  that  an  advantage  was  to  be 
taken  of  the  state  of  public  opinion.  Others,  perhaps,  were 
enthusiasts,  whose  imagination  had  been  drawn  to  this  parti- 
cular object,  by  the  language  and  sentiments  which  prevailed 
around  them.  But,  whether  impostors  or  enthusiasts,  they 
concurred  in  producing  themselves  in  the  character  which  their 
countrymen  looked  for,  that  is  to  say,  as  the  restorers  and 
deliverers  of  the  nation,  in  that  sense  in  which  restoration  and 
deliverance  were  expected  by  the  Jews. 

"Why  therefore  Jesus,  if  he  was,  like  them,  either  an  enthu- 
siast or  impostor,  did  not  pursue  the  same  conduct  as  they  did, 
in  framing  his  character  and  pretensions,  it  will  be  found  diffi- 
cult to  explain.  A  mission,  the  operation  and  benefit  of  which 
was  to  take  place  in  another  life,  was  a  thing  unthought  of  as 
the  subject  of  these  prophecies.  That  Jesus,  coming  to  them 
as  their  Messiah,  should  come  under  a  character  totally 
different  from  that  in  which  they  expected  him  ;  should  deviate 
from  the  general  persuasion,  and  deviate  into  pretensions  abso- 
lutely singular  and  original ;  appears  to  be  inconsistent  with  the 
imputation  of  enthusiasm  or  imposture,  both  which,  by  their 
nature,  I  should  expect,  would,  and  both  which,  throughout 
the  experience  which  this  very  subject  furnishes,  in  fact  have, 
followed  the  opinions  that  obtained  at  the  time. 

If  it  be  said,  that  Jesus,  having  tried  the  other  plan,  turned 
at  length  to  this  ;  I  answer,  that  the  thing  is  said  without 
evidence  ;  against  evidence  ;  that  it  was  competent  to  the  rest 
t<>  have  done  the  same,  yet  that  nothing  of  this  sort  was  thought 
of  bv  any. 


268  Evidences  of  Christianity.  [Part  II. 


ANNOTATION. 

'  That  Jesus  coming  to  them  as  their  Messiah,  should  come  in  a 
character  totally  different  from  that  in  which  they  expected 
h  im.3 

The  Jews,  it  is  said,1  had  certain  expectations  of  what  their 
Messiah  was  to  be ;  and  the  character  of  Jesus  strongly  im- 
pressed many  of  them  to  the  belief  that  He  was  the  Messiah ; 
and  hence  they  were  led  afterwards  to  fancy  that  He  must  have 
done  what  the  Messiah  ought  to  have  done. 

Indeed  !  we  answer.  But  then,  unfortunately  for  this  Theory, 
it  is  notorious  that  the  Jews  expected  a  very  different  kind  of 
Messiah  from  what  Jesus  is  described  to  have  been.  They 
expected  a  conquering  Prince,  not  a  Crucified  Teacher. 

'No  matter  for  that,'  it  is  rejoined:  'for  this  only  shows 
that  the  disciples  of  Jesus  modified  their  previous  notions  of  the 
Messiah  so  as  to  suit  such  facts  of  his  history  as  could  not  be 
denied.'  But  when  the  Theory  takes  this  shape,  it  plainly 
leaves  itself  without  a  foundation.  If  Jesus  neither  wrought 
miracles  to  prove  his  divine  mission,  nor  in  any  way  fulfilled 
the  expectations  of  the  Messiah,  what  was  there  to  impress 
men's  minds  so  strongly  with  the  conviction  that  He  was  the 
Messiah  ?  Take  away  his  miracles,  and  you  leave  Him  nothing 
but  the  character  of  an  humble  Teacher,  followed  by  a  few 
poor  peasants,  addressing  calm  lessons  of  morality  to  a  people 
-wallowed  up  in  factious  strife  and  ceremonial  superstition — a 
people  divided  between  the  hot  bigotry  of  the  Pharisees,  and 
the  cold  incredulity  of  the  Sadducees — but  selfish  and  worldly 
to  the  heart's  core,  in  both  extremes,  and  agitated  by  that  most 
absorbing  of  all  excitements — a  fierce  political  agitation.  Read 
Josephus's  account  of  that  age  and  generation,  and  then  say 
whether  such  a  cause  was  likely  to  produce  such  an  effect. 

But  again,  when  Jesus  was  first  believed  to  be  the  Messiah, 
it  must  have  been  upon  the  pc  rsuasion  that  He  would  fulfil  the 
popular  expectations  of  the  Messiah.  How  then  came  the 
belief  in  his  Messiahship  to  remain  after  He  had  tailed  to  fulfil 
them ;  and  to  remain  so  strongly  imprinted,  as  to  change  the 


Strauss,  Leben  Jem. 


Chap.  \  i.J  Scripture  confirmed  by  independent  Accounts.     269 

very  foundation  on  which  it  was  built  ?  '  The  necessity  of  the 
case,'  it  is  replied,  '  required  that  his  Disciples  should  accom- 
modate their  views  to  known  facts.  "When  it  was  certain  that 
He  was  put  to  death,  they  could  only  mend  the  matter  by  fancy- 
ing that  He  had  risen  again.' 

Now  the  necessity  of  all  this  for  Dr.  Strauss's  Theory  is  plain 
enough  :  but  it  is  not  easy  to  see  its  necessity  for  anything  else. 
For  the  Apostles  were  not  modern  philosophers,  prepared  to 
sacrifice  everything  to  a  theory,  but  plain  unsophisticated  men. 
Their  hopes  had  been  confessedly  disappointed,  and  their 
faith  had  failed.  Hope,  Faith,  and  Courage,  had  been  buried 
in  their  Master's  tomb.  These  might  rise  again  with  Him, 
but  they  could  not  raise  Him,  when  they  were  not  themselves 
revived.  And  the  question  is,  What  revived  them  ?  It  is  idle 
to  say,  '  an  altered  view  of  the  prophecies,'  because  that  is  only 
suggesting  again  the  same  question  in  another  form — What 
altered  their  view  of  the  prophecies?  These  prophecies, 
according  to  the  Infidels,  can  only  be  made  to  speak  of  the 
Messiah's  sufferings  by  one  who  already  believes  in  a  suffering 
Messiah.  If  they  really  do  predict  '  Christ's  sufferings,  and  the 
Glory  that  should  follow,'  let  this  be  distinctly  allowed,  and  we 
shall  know  how  to  use  the  admission.  But  if  they  do  not,  the 
question  still  recurs,  What  produced  the  strong  persuasion, 
which  made  the  Disciples  fancy  a  meaning  so  remote  from  the 
notions  of  that  age,  so  different, — as  we  are  told, — from  the 
natural  meaning  of  those  prophecies  ? 


CHAPTER  VI. 


ONE  argument,  which  has  been  much  relied  upon  (but  not 
more  than  its  just  weight  deserves),  is  the  conformity  of 
the  facts  occasionally  mentioned  or  referred  to  in  scripture,  with 
the  state  of  things  in  those  times,  as  represented  by  foreign  and 
independent  accounts.  Which  conformity  proves,  that  the 
writers  of  the  New  Testament  possessed  a  species  of  local 
knowledge,  which  could  only  belong  to  an  inhabitant  of  that 
country,  and  to  one  living  in  that  age.  This  argument,  if  well 
made  out  by  examples,  is  very  little  short  of  proving  the  abso- 


270  Evidences  of  Christianity.  [Pari  II. 

lute  genuineness  of  the  writings.  It  carries  them  up  to  the 
age  of  the  reputed  authors,  to  an  age,  in  which  it  must  have 
been  difficult  to  impose  upon  the  christian  public,  forgeries  in 
the  names  of  those  authors,  and  in  which  there  is  no  evidence 
that  an}-  forgeries  were  attempted.  It  proves  at  least,  that 
the  books,  whoever  were  the  authors  of  them,  were  composed 
by  persons  living  in  the  time  and  country  in  which  these  things 
were  transacted;  and  consequently  capable,  by  their  situation, 
of  being  well  informed  of  the  facts  which  they  relate.  And 
the  argument  is  stronger,  when  applied  to  the  New  Testament, 
than  it  is  in  the  case  of  almost  any  other  writings,  by  reason  of 
the  mixed  nature  of  the  allusions  which  this  book  contains. 
The  scene  of  action  is  not  confined  to  a  single  country,  but  dis- 
played in  the  greatest  cities  of  the  Roman  empire.  Allu- 
sions are  made  to  the  manners  and  principles  of  the  Greeks, 
the  .Romans,  and  the  Jews.  This  variety  renders  a  forgery 
proportionably  more  difficult,  especially  to  writers  of  a  poste 
rior  age.  A  Greek  or  Roman  Christian,  who  lived  in  the 
second  or  third  century,  would  have  been  wanting  in  Jewish 
literature  ;  a  Jewish  convert  in  those  ages  would  have  been 
equally  deficient  in  the  knowledge  of  Greece  and  Kome.1. 

This,  however,  is  an  argument  which  depends  entirely  upon 
an  induction  of  particulars ;  and  as,  consequently,  it  carries 
with  it  little  force,  without  a  view  of  the  instances  upon  which 
it  is  built,  I  have  to  request  the  reader's  attention  to  a  detail 
of  examples,  distinctly  and  articulately  proposed.  In  collect- 
ing these  examples,  I  have  done  no  more  than  epitomize  the  first 
volume  of  the  first  part  of  Dr.  Lardner's  Credibility  of  the  Gos- 
pel History.  And  I  have  brought  the  argument  within  its 
present  compass,  first,  by  passing  over  some  of  his  sections  in 
which  the  accordancy  appeared  to  me  less  certain,  or  upon  sub- 
jects not  sufficiently  appropriate  or  circumstantial ;  secondly, 
by  contracting  every  section  into  the  fewest  words  possible, 
contenting  myself  for  the  most  part  with  a  mere  apposition  of 
passages;  and,  thirdly,  by  omitting  many  disquisitions,  which, 
though  learned  and  accurate,  are  not  absolutely  necessary  to 
the  understanding  or  verification  of  the  argument. 


1  Michaeli's  Introduction  to  the  New  Testament  (Marsh's  translation),  c.  ii.  sec.  xi. 


Chap,  vi.]  Scripture  confirmed  hy  independent  Accounts.     271 

The  writer  principally  made  use  of  in  the  inquiry,  is  Josephus. 
Josephus  was  born  at  Jerusalem  four  years  after  Christ's  ascen- 
sion. He  wrote  his  history  of  the  Jewish  war  some  time  after 
the  destruction  of  Jerusalem,  which  happened  in  the  year  of 
our  Lord  70,  that  is,  thirty-seven  years  after  the  ascension  ; 
and  his  history  of  the  Jews  he  finished  in  the  year  93,  that 
is,  sixty  years  after  the  ascension. 

At  the  head  of  each  article,  I  have  referred,  by  figures  in- 
cluded in  parentheses,  to  the  page  of  Dr.  Lardner's  volume,  where 
the  section,  from  which  the  abridgment  is  made,  begins.  The 
edition  used  is  that  of  1741. 

I.  (p.  14.)  Matt.  xi.  22.  '  When  he  [Joseph]  heard  that 
Archelaus  did  reign  in  Judea,  in  the  room  of  his  father  Herod, 
he  was  afraid  to  go  thither :  notwithstanding,  being  warned  of 
God  in  a  dream,  he  turned  aside  into  the  parts  of  Galilee.' 

In  this  passage  it  is  asserted,  that  Archelaus  succeeded  Herod 
in  Judea ;  and  it  is  implied,  that  his  power  did  not  extend  to 
Galilee.  Now  we  learn  from  Josephus,  that  Herod  the  Great, 
whose  dominion  included  all  the  land  of  Israel,  appointed 
Archelaus  his  successor  in  Judea,  and  assigned  the  rest  of  his 
dominions  to  other  sons ;  and  that  this  disposition  was  ratified, 
as  to  the  main  parts  of  it,  by  the  Roman  emperor.1 

St.  Matthew  say6,  that  Archelaus  reigned,  was  king  in  Judea. 
Agreeably  to  this,  we  are  informed  by  Josephus,  not  only  that 
Herod  appointed  Archelaus  his  successor  in  Judea,  but  that  he 
also  appointed  him  with  the  title  of  king;  and  the  Greek  verb 
(3a<ft\svsi,  which  the  evangelist  uses  to  denote  the  government 
and  rank  of  Archelaus,  is  used  likewise  by  Josephus.8 

The  cruelty  of  Archelaus's  character,  which  is  not  obscurely 
intimated  by  the  evangelist,  agrees  with  divers  particulars  in 
his  history,  preserved  by  Josephus.  '  In  the  tenth  year  of  his 
government,  the  chief  of  the  Jews  and  Samaritans,  not  being 
able  to  endure  his  cruelty  and  tyranny,  presented  complaints 
against  him  to  Caesar.' 9 

II.  (p.  19.)  Luke  iii.  1.  'In  the  fifteenth  year  of  the  reign 
of  Tiberius  Caesar — Herod  being  tetrarch  of  Galilee,  and  his 
brother  Philip  tetrarch  of  Iturea  and  of  the  region  of  Tracho- 
nitis — the  word  of  God  came  unto  John.' 


1  Ant.  lib.  xvii.  c.  8,  sec.  1.  2  De  Bell.  lib.  i.  c.  33,  sec.  7. 

3  Aht.  lib.  xvii.  o.  13.  sect.  1. 


272  Evidences  of  Christianity.  [Part  II. 

By  the  will  of  Herod  the  Great,  and  the  decree  of  Augustus 
thereupon,  his  two  sons  were  appointed,  one  (Herod  Antipas) 
tetrarch  of  Galilee  and  Perea,  and  the  other  (Philip)  tetrarch 
of  Trachonitis  and  the  neighboring  countries.1  We  have  there- 
fore these  two  persons  in  the  situations  in  which  St.  Luke 
places  them  ;  and  also,  that  they  were  in  these  situations  in  the 
fifteenth  year  of  Tiberius  :  in  other  words,  that  they  continued 
in  possession  of  their  territories  and  titles  until  that  time,  and 
afterwards,  appears  from  a  passage  of  Josephus,  which  relates 
of  Herod,  '  that  he  was  removed  by  Caligula,  the  successor  of 
Tiberius  ;2  and  of  Philip,  that  he  died  in  the  twentieth  year  of 
Tiberius,  when  he  had  governed  Trachonitis  and  Batanea  and 
Gaulanitis  thirty-seven  years.' 3 

III.  (p.  20.)  Mark  v.  17.4  '  Herod  had  sent  forth,  and  laid 
upon  John,  and  bound  him  in  prison,  for  Herodias'  sake,  his 
brother  Philip's  wife ;  for  he  had  married  her.' 

With  this  compare  Jos.  Ant.  1.  xviii.  c.  6,  sect.  1.  '  He 
[Herod  the  tetrarch]  made  a  visit  to  Herod  his  brother — Here, 
falling  in  love  with  Herodias,  the  wife  of  the  said  Herod,  he 
ventured  to  make  her  proposals  of  marriage.' 5 

Again,  Mark  vi.  22.  '  And  when  the  daughter  of  the  said 
Herodias  came  in  and  danced ' 

With  this  also  compare  Jos.  Ant.  1.  xviii.  c.  6,  sect.  4. 
'  Herodias  was  married  to  Herod,  son  of  Herod  the  Great. 
They  had  a  daughter,  whose  name  was  Salome ;  after  whose 
birth,  Herodias,  in  utter  violation  of  the  rules  of  her  country, 
left  her  husband,  then  living,  and  married  Herod  the  tetrarch 
of  Galilee,  her  husband's  brother  by  the  father's  side.' 

IV.  (p.  29.)  Acts  xii.  1.     'Now,  about  that  time,  Herod  the 


1  Ant.  lib.  xvii.  c.  8,  sect.  1.  2  Ibid.  lib.  xviii.  c.  8,  sect.  2. 

8  Ibid.  lib.  xviii.  c.  5,  sect.  6.  '  See  also  Matt.  xiv.  1-13.     Luke  iii.  19. 

6  The  affinity  of  the  two  accounts  is  unquestionable ;  but  there  is  a  difference  in 
the  name  1 4"  Eerodias's  firsl  husband,  which,  in  the  evangelist,  is  Philip;  in  Jose- 
phus. Eerod.  The  difficulty,  however,  will  not  appear  considerable,  when  we 
recollect  how  common  it  was,  in  those  times,  lor  the  same  person  to  bear  two 
names;  'Simon,  which  is  called  Peter;  Lebbeus,  whose  surname  is  Thaddeus; 
Thomas,  which  is  called  Didymus;  Simeon,  who  was  called  Niger;  Saul,  who  was 
also  called  Paul.'  The  solution  is  rendered  likewise  easier  in  the  present  case,  by 
the  consideration,  that  Herod  the  Great  had  children  by  seven  or  eight  wives;  that 
Josephus  mentions  three  of  his  sons  under  the  name  of  Herod;  that  it  is  neverthe- 
less highly  probable,  that  the  brothers  bore  some  additional  name,  by  which  they 
were  distinguished  from  one  another.-  Lard,  vol   ii.  p.  8.»7. 


Chap,  vi.]  Scripture  confirmed  by  independent  Accounts.     273 

king  stretched  forth  his  hands,  to  vex  certain  of  the  church.' 
In  the  conclusion  of  the  same  chapter,  Herod's  death  is  repre- 
sented to  have  taken  place  soon  after  this  persecution.  The 
accuracy  of  our  historian,  or,  rather,  the  unmeditated  coin- 
cidence, which  truth  of  its  own  record  produces,  is  in  this 
instance  remarkable.  There  was  no  portion  of  time,  for  thirty 
years  before,  nor  ever  afterwards,  in  which  there  was  a  king  at 
Jerusalem,  a  person  exercising  that  authority  in  Judea,  or  to 
whom  that  title  could  be  applied,  except  the  three  last  years  of 
this  Herod's  life,  within  which  period  the  transaction  recorded 
in  the  Acts  is  stated  to  have  taken  place.  This  prince  was  the 
grandson  of  Herod  the  Great.  In  the  Acts  he  appears  under 
his  family  name  of  Herod  ;  by  Josephus  he  is  called  Agrippa. 
For  proof  that  he  was  a  king,  properly  so  called,  we  have  the 
testimony  of  Josephus  in  full  and  direct  terms  : — '  Sending  for 
him  to  his  palace,  Caligula  put  a  crown  upon  his  head,  and 
appointed  him  king  of  the  tetrarchy  of  Philip,  intending  also  to 
give  him  the  tetrarchy  of  Lysanias.'1  And  that  Judea  was  at 
last,  but  not  until  the  last,  included  in  his  dominions,  appears 
by  a  subsequent  passage  of  the  same  Josephus,  wherein  he  tells 
us,  that  Claudius,  by  a  decree,  confirmed  to  Agrippa  the  domi- 
nion which  Caligula  had  given  him,  adding  also  Judea  and 
Samaria,  in  the  utmost  extent,  as  possessed  by  his  grandfather 
Herod? 

V.  (p.  32.)  Acts  xii.  19,  23.  <  And  he  [Herod]  went  down 
from  Judea  to  Cesarea,  and  there  abode. — And  upon  a  set  day, 
Herod,  arrayed  in  royal  apparel,  sat  upon  his  throne,  and  made 
an  oration  unto  them  ;  and  the  people  gave  a  shout,  saying,  It 
is  the  voice  of  a  god,  and  not  of  a  man  ;  and  immediately  the 
angel  of  the  Lord  smote  him,  because  he  gave  not  God  the 
glory,  and  he  was  eaten  of  worms,  and  gave  up  the  ghost.' 

Jos.  Ant.  lib.  xix.  c.  8,  sect.  2.  '  He  went  to  the  city 
Cesarea.  Here  he  celebrated  shows  in  honor  of  Caesar.  On 
the  second  day  of  the  shows,  early  in  the  morning,  he  came  into 
the  theatre,  dressed  in  a  robe  of  silver  of  most  curious  work- 
manship. The  rays  of  the  rising  sun,  reflected  from  such  a 
splendid  garb,  gave  him  a  majestic  and  awful  appearance. 
They  called  him  a  god,  and  entreated  him  to  be  propitious  to 


1  Ant.  xviii.  o.  7,  sect.  10.  a  Ibid.  xix.  c.  5,  sect.  1. 

18 


2  74  Evidences  of  Christianity.  [Part  II. 

them,  saying,  Hitherto  we  have  respected  you  as  a  man,  but 
now  we  acknowledge  you  to  be  more  than  mortal.  The  king 
neither  reproved  these  persons,  nor  rejected  the  impious 
flattery. — Immediately  after  this  he  was  seized  with  pains  in 
his  bowels,  extremely  violent  at  the  very  first. — He  was  carried 
therefore  with  all  haste  to  his  palace.  These  pains  continually 
tormenting  him,  he  expired  in  five  days'  time.' 

The  reader  will  perceive  the  accordancy  of  these  accounts  in 
various  particulars.  The  place  (Cesarea),  the  set  day,  the 
gorgeous  dress,  the  acclamations  of  the  assembly,  the  peculiar 
turn  of  the  flattery,  the  reception  of  it,  the  sudden  and  critical 
incursion  of  the  disease,  are  circumstances  noticed  in  both  nar- 
ratives. The  worms  mentioned  by  St.  Luke  are  not  remarked 
by  Josephus,  but  the  appearance  of  these  is  a  symptom,  not  un- 
usually, I  believe,  attending  the  disease  which  Josephus  de- 
scribes, viz.,  violent  affections  of  the  bowels. 

VI.  (p.  41.)  Acts  xxiv.  24.  '  And  after  certain  days,  when 
Felix  came  with  his  wife  Drusilla,  which  was  a  Jewess,  he  sent 
for  Paul.' 

Jos.  Ant.  lib.  xx.  c.  6,  sect.  1,  2.  '  Agrippa  gave  his  sister 
Drusilla  in  marriage  to  Azizus,  king  of  the  Emesenes,  wh^n  he 
had  consented  to  be  circumcised. — But  this  marriage  of  Drusilla 
with  Azizus  was  dissolved  in  a  short  time  after,  in  this  man- 
ner : — When  Felix  was  procurator  of  Judea,  having  had  a  sight 
of  her,  he  was  mightily  taken  with  her. — She  was  induced  to 
transgress  the  laws  of  her  country,  and  marry  Felix.' 

Here  the  public  station  of  Felix,  the  name  of  his  wife,  and 
the  singular  circumstance  of  her  religion,  all  appear  in  perfect 
conformity  with  the  evangelist. 

VII.  (p.  46.)  '  And  after  certain  days,  King  Agrippa  and 
Bernice  came  to  Cesarea  to  salute  Festus.'  By  this  passage 
we  are  in  effect  told,  that  Agrippa  was  a  king,  but  not  of 
Judea ;  for  he  came  to  salute  Festus,  who  at  this  time 
administered  the  government  of  that  country  at  Cesarea. 

Now  how  does  the  history  of  the  age  correspond  with  this 
account  ?  The  Agrippa  here  spoken  of,  was  the  son  of  Herod 
Agrippa  mentioned  in  the  last  article ;  but  that  he  did  not 
succeed  to  his  father's  kingdom,  nor  ever  recovered  Judea, 
which  had  been  a  part  of  it,  we  learn  by  the  information  of 
Josephus,  who  relates  of  him,  that,  when  his  father  was  dead, 


Chap,  vi.]  Scripture  confirmed  by  independent  Accounts.     275 

Claudius  intended,  at  first,  to  have  put  him  immediately  in 
possession  of  his  father's  dominions ;  but  that,  Agrippa  being 
then  but  seventeen  years  of  age,  the  emperor  was  persuaded  to 
alter  his  mind,  and  appointed  Cuspius  Fadus  prefect  of  Judea 
and  the  whole  kingdom  ;l  which  Fadus  was  succeeded  by 
Tiberius  Alexander,  Cnmanus,  Felix,  Festus."  But  that,  though 
disappointed  of  his  father's  kingdom,  in  which  was  included 
Judea,  he  was  nevertheless  rightly  styled  King  Agrippa ;  and 
that  he  was  in  possession  of  considerable  territories  bordering 
upon  Judea,  we  gather  from  the  same  authority ;  for,  after 
several  successive  donations  of  country,  '  Claudius,  at  the  same 
time  that  he  sent  Felix  to  be  procurator  of  Judea,  promoted 
Agrippa  from  Chalcis  to  a  greater  kingdom,  giving  to  him  the 
tetrarchy  which  had  been  Philip's  ;  and  he  added  moreover  the 
kingdom  of  Lysanias,  and  the  province  that  had  belonged  to 
Yarus.' 3 

St.  Paul  addresses  this  person  as  a  Jew :  '  King  Agrippa, 
believest  thou  the  prophets  ?  I  know  that  thou  believest.'  As 
the  son  of  Herod  Agrippa,  who  is  described  by  Josephus  to 
have  been  a  zealous  Jew,  it  is  reasonable  to  suppose  that  he 
maintained  the  same  profession.  But  what  is  more  material 
to  remark,  because  it  is  more  close  and  circumstantial,  is,  that 
St.  Luke,  speaking  of  the  father,  (xii.  1.  3,)  calls  him  Herod  the 
king,  and  gives  an  example  of  the  exercise  of  his  authority  at 
Jerusalem  :  speaking  of  the  son,  (xxv.  13,)  he  calls  him  king,  but 
not  of  Judea;  which  distinction  agrees  correctly  with  the  history. 

VIII.  (p.  51.)  Acts  xiii.  7.  '  And  when  they  had  gone 
through  the  isle  [Cyprus]  to  Paphos,  they  found  a  certain 
sorcerer,  a  false  prophet,  a  Jew,  whose  name  was  Barjesus, 
which  was  with  the  deputy  of  the  country,  Sergius  Paulus,  a 
prudent  man.' 

The  word  which  is  here  translated  deputy,  signifies  Proconsul, 
and  upon  this  word  our  observation  is  founded.  The  provinces 
of  the  Roman  empire  were  of  two  kinds  ;  those  belonging  to  the 
emperor,  in  which  the  governor  was  called  Propretor ;  and  those 
belonging  to  the  senate,  in  which  the  governor  was  called 
Proconsul.      And   this   was   a   regular   distinction.      Now   it 


1  Ant.  xix.  c.  9,  ad  fin.  2  Ibid.  xx.     Be  Bell.  lib.  iL 

3  Be  Bell.  lib.  ii.  c.  12.  ad  fin. 


276  Evidences  of  Christianity.  [Part  II. 

appears  from  Dio  Cassins,1  that  the  province  of  Cyprus,  which 
in  the  original  distribution  was  assigned  to  the  emperor,  had 
been  transferred  to  the  senate,  in  exchange  for  some  others ; 
and  that,  after  this  exchange,  the  appropriate  title  of  the 
Roman  governor  was  Proconsul. 

Acts  xviii.  12.  (p.  55.)  '  And  when  Gallio  was  deputy  [Pro- 
consul] of  Achaia.' 

The  propriety  of  the  title  '  Proconsul'  is  in  this  passage  still 
more  critical.  For  the  province  of  Achaia,  after  passing  from 
the  senate  to  the  emperor,  had  been  restored  again  by  the 
emperor  Claudius  to  the  senate  (and  consequently  its  govern- 
ment had  become  proconsular)  only  six  or  seven  years  before 
the  time  in  which  this  transaction  is  said  to  have  taken  place.* 
And  what  confines  with  strictness  the  appellation  to  the  time 
is,  that  Achaia  under  the  following  reign  ceased  to  be  a  Roman 
province  at  all. 

IX.  (p.  152.)  It  appears,  as  well  from  the  general  constitu- 
tion of  a  Roman  province,  as  from  what  Josephus  delivers  con- 
cerning the  state  of  Judea  in  particular,3  that  the  power  of  life 
and  death  resided  exclusively  in  the  Roman  governor;  but  that 
the  Jews,  nevertheless,  had  magistrates  and  a  council,  invested 
with  a  subordinate  and  municipal  authority.  This  economy  is 
discerned  in  every  part  of  the  gospel  narrative  of  our  Saviour's 
crucifixion. 

X.  (p.  203.)  Acts  ix.  31.  '  Then  had  the  churches  rest 
throughout  all  Judea  and  Galilee  and  Samaria.' 

This  rest  synchronises  with  the  attempt  of  Caligula  to  place 
his  statue  in  the  Temple  of  Jerusalem  ;  the  threat  of  which 
outrage  produced  amongst  the  Jews  a  consternation,  that,  for  a 
season,  diverted  their  attention  from  every  other  object.4 

XI.  (p.  218.)  Acts  xxi.  31.  '  And  they  took  Paul,  and  drew 
him  out  of  the  temple  ;  and  forthwith  the  doors  were  shut. 
And  as  they  went  about  to  kill  him,  tidings  came  to  the  chief 
captain  of  the  hand,  that  all  Jerusalem  was  in  an  uproar.  Then 
the  chief  captain  came  near,  and  took  him,  and  commanded  him 
to  be  bound  with  two  chains,  and  demanded  who  he  was,  and 
what  he  had  done  ;  and  some  cried  one  thing,  and  some  an- 


1  Lib.  liv.  ad  a.  u.  732.  9  Suet,  in  Claud,  c.  xxv.     Dio,  lib.  lxi. 

3  Ant.  lib.  xx.  c.  8,  sect.  5,  c.  1,  sect.  2. 

4  Jos.  de  Bell.  lib.  xi.  c.  10.  sect.  1,  3,  4. 


Chap,  vi.]  Scripture  confirmed  by  independent  Accounts.     277 

other,  among  the  multitude  :  and,  when  he  could  not  know  the 
certainty  for  the  tumult,  he  commanded  him  to  be  carried  into 
the  castle.  And  when  he  came  upon  the  stairs,  so  it  was, 
that  he  was  borne  of  the  soldiers  for  the  violence  of  the 
people.' 

In  this  quotation,  we  have  the  band  of  Roman  soldiers  at 
Jerusalem,  their  office  (to  suppress  tumults),  the  castle,  the 
stairs,  both,  as  it  should  seem,  adjoining  to  the  temple.  Let 
us  inquire  whether  we  can  find  these  particulars  in  any  other 
record  of  that  age  and  place. 

Jos.  de  Bell.  lib.  v.  c.  5,  sect.  8.  '  Antonia  was  situated  at 
the  angle  of  the  western  and  northern  porticoes  of  the  outer 
temple.  It  was  built  upon  a  rock  fifty  cubits  high,  steep  on 
all  sides.  On  that  side  where  it  joined  to  the  porticoes  of  the 
temple,  there  were  stairs  reaching  to  each  portico,  by  which  the 
guard  descended  ;  for  there  was  always  lodged  here  a  Roman 
legion,  and,  posting  themselves  in  their  armor  in  several  places 
in  the  porticoes,  they  kept  a  watch  on  the  people  on  the  feast 
days  to  prevent  all  disorders  ;  for,  as  the  temple  was  a  guard  to 
the  city,  so  was  Antonia  to  the  temple.' 

XII.  (p.  224.)  Acts  iv.  1.  'And  as  they  spake  unto  the 
people,  the  priests,  and  the  captain  of  the  temple  and  the  Sad- 
ducees  came  upon  them.'  Here  we  have  a  public  officer,  under 
the  title  of  captain  of  the  temple,  and  he  probably  a  Jew,  as 
he  accompanied  the  priests  and  Sadducees  in  apprehending  the 
apostles. 

Jos.  de  Bell.  lib.  ii.  c.  17,  sect.  2.  'And  at  the  temple 
Eleazar,  the  son  of  Ananias  the  high  priest,  a  young  man  of  a 
bold  and  resolute  disposition,  then  captain,  persuaded  those  who 
performed  the  sacred  ministrations,  not  to  receive  the  gift  or 
sacrifice  of  any  stranger.' 

XIII.  (p.  225.)  Acts  xxv.  12.  '  Then  Festus,  when  he  had 
conferred  with  the  council,  answered,  Hast  thou  appealed  unto 
Csesar  ?  unto  Csesar  shalt  thou  go.  That  it  was  usual  for  the 
Roman  presidents  to  have  a  council,  consisting  of  their  friends, 
and  other  chief  Romans  in  the  province,  appears  expressly  in 
the  following  passage  of  Cicero's  oration  against  Verres  : — 
'  Illud  negare  posses,  aut  nunc  negabis,  te,  concilio  tuo  dimisso, 
viris  primariis,  qui  in  consilio  C.  Sacerdotis  fuerant,  tibique 
esse  volebant,  remotis,  de  re  judicata  judicasse?' 


278  Evidences  of  Christianity.  [Part  II. 

XIY.  (p.  235.)  Acts  xvi.  13.  'And  [at  Philippi]  on  the 
sabbath,  we  went  out  of  the  city  by  a  river  side,  where  prayer 
was  wont  to  be  made,'  or  where  a  proseucha,  oratory,  or  place 
of  prayer,  was  allowed.  The  particularity  to  be  remarked,  is 
the  situation  of  the  place  where  prayer  was  wont  to  be  made? 
viz.  by  a  river  side. 

Philo,  describing  the  conduct  of  the  Jews  of  Alexandria, 
upon  a  certain  public  occasion,  relates  of  them,  that,  '  early  in 
the  morning,  flocking  out  of  the  gates  of  the  city,  they  go  to 
the  neighboring  shores  [for  the  proseuchce  were  destroyed], 
and,  standing  in  a  most  pure  place,  they  lift  up  their  voices 
with  one  accord.'1 

Josephus  gives  us  a  decree  of  the  city  of  ITalicarnassus,  per- 
mitting the  Jews  to  build  oratories,  a  part  of  which  decree  runs 
thus: — 'We  ordain  that  the  Jews,  who  are  willing,  men  and 
women,  do  observe  the  sabbaths,  and  perforin  sacred  rites  ac- 
cording to  the  Jewish  laws,  and  build  oratories  by  the  sea- 
side.^ 

Tertullian,  among  other  Jewish  rites  and  customs,  such  as 
feasts,  sabbaths,  fasts,  and  unleavened  bread,  mentions,  '  ora- 
tiones  litorales]  that  is,  prayers  by  the  river  side.3  * 

XV.  (p.  255.)  Acts  xxvi.  5.  'After  the  most  straitest  sect 
of  our  religion,  I  lived  a  Pharisee.' 

Jos.  de  Bell.  lib.  i.  c.  5,  sect.  2.  'The  Pharisees  were 
reckoned  the  most  religious  of  any  of  the  Jews,  and  to  be  the 
most  exact  and  skilful  in  explaining  the  laws.' 

In  the  original  there  is  an  agreement  not  only  in  the  sense 
but  in  the  expression,  it  being  the  same  Greek  adjective, 
which  is  rendered  'strait' in  the  Acts,  and  'exact' in  Josephus. 

XVI.  (p.  255.)  Mark  viii.  3,  4.  'The  Pharisees  and  all 
the  Jews,  except  they  wash,  eat  not,  holding  the  tradition  of 
the  elders  ;  and  many  other  things  there  be  which  they  have 
received  to  hold.' 

Jos.  Ant.  lib.  xiii.  c.  10,  sect.  6.  'The  Pharisees  have  de- 
livered to  the  people  many  institutions,  as  received  from  the 
fathers,  which  are  not  written  in  the  law  of  Moses.' 

XVII.  (p.  259.)  Acts  xxiii.  8.     '  For  the  Sadducees  say,  that 


1  Philo  in  Flacc.  p.  382.  2  Jos.  Ant.  lib.  xiv.  c.  10,  sect.  2-1. 

3  Tertul.  ad  Not.  lib.  i.  c.  13. 


Chap,  vi.]  Scripture  confirmed  by  independent  Accounts.     279 

there  is  no  resurrection,  neither  angel,  nor  spirit ;  but  the  Pha- 
risees confess  both.' 

Jos.  de  Bell.  lib.  ii.  c.  8,  sect.  14.  '  They  [the  Pharisees] 
believe  every  soul  to  be  immortal,  but  that  the  soul  of  the 
good  only  passes  into  another  body,  and  the  soul  of  the  wicked 
is  punished  with  eternal  punishment.'  On  the  other  hand, 
Ant.  lib.  xviii.  c.  1,  sect.  4.  'It  is  the  opinion  of  the  Sad- 
ducees  that  sonls  perish  with  the  bodies.' 

XVIII.  (p.  268.)  Acts.  v.  17.  <  Then  the  High  Priest  rose 
up,  and  all  they  that  were  with  him,  which  is  the  sect  of  the 
Sadducees,  and  were  filled  with  indignation.'  St.  Luke  here 
intimates  that  the  High  Priest  was  a  Sadducee,  which  is  a 
character  one  would  not  have  expected  to  meet  with  in  that 
station.  This  circumstance,  remarkable  as  it  is,  was  not  how- 
ever without  examples. 

Jos.  Ant.  lib.  xiii.  c.  10,  sect.  6,  7.  '  John  Hyrcanus,  High 
Priest  of  the  Jews,  forsook  the  Pharisees  upon  a  disgust,  and 
joined  himself  to  the  party  of  the  Sadducees.'  This  High 
Priest  died  one  hundred  and  seven  years  before  the  christian 
era. 

Again.  (Ant.  lib.  xx.  c.  8,  sect.  1.)  'This  Ananus  the  younger, 
who,  as  we  have  said  just  now,  had  received  the  high  priest- 
hood, was  fierce  and  haughty  in  his  behavior,  and  above  all 
men  bold  and  daring ;  and,  moreover,  was  of  the  sect  of  the 
Sadducees.''  This  High  Priest  lived  little  more  than  twenty 
years  after  the  transaction  in  the  Acts. 

XIX.  (p.  282.)  Luke  ix.  51.  '  And  it  came  to  pass,  when 
the  time  was  come  that  he  should  be  received  up,  he  stead- 
fastly set  his  face  to  go  to  Jerusalem,  and  sent  messengers 
before  his  face.  And  they  went,  and  entered  into  a  village  of 
the  Samaritans  to  make  ready  for  him,  and  they  did  not  re- 
ceive him,  because  his  face  was  as  though  he  would  go  to 
Jerusalem.' 

Jos.  Ant.  lib.  xx.  c.  5,  sect.  1.  '  It  was  the  custom  of  the 
Galileans,  who  went  up  to  the  holy  city  at  the  feasts,  to  travel 
through  the  country  of  Samaria.  As  they  were  in  their  jour- 
ney, some  inhabitants  of  the  village  called  Gingea,  which  lies 
on  the  borders  of  Samaria  and  the  great  plain,  falling  upon 
them,  killed  a  great  many  of  them.' 

XX.  (p.  278.)    John  iv.  20.      '  Our  fathers,'  said  the  Sama- 


280  Evidences  of  Christianity.  [Part  II. 

ritan  woman,  '  worshipped  in  this  mountain,  and  ye  say  that 
Jerusalem  is  the  place  where  men  ought  to  worship.' 

Jos.  Ant.  lib.  xviii.  c.  5,  sect.  1.  '  Commanding  them  to 
meet  him  at  Mount  Gerizim,  which  is  by  them  [the  Sama- 
ritans] esteemed  the  most  sacred  of  all  mountains.' 

XXL  (p.  312.)  Matt.  xxvi.  3.  '  Then  assembled  together 
the  chief  priests,  and  the  elders  of  the  people,  unto  the  palace 
of  the  High  Priest,  who  was  called  Caiaphas.'  That  Caiaphas 
was  High  Priest,  and  High  Priest  throughout  the  president- 
ship of  Pontius  Pilate,  and  consequently  at  this  time,  appears 
from  the  following  account : — He  was  made  High  Priest  by 
Valerius  Gratus,  predecessor  of  Pontius  Pilate,,  and  was  re- 
moved from  his  office  by  Yitellius,  president  of  Syria,  after 
Pilate  was  sent  away  out  of  the  province  of  Judea.  Josephus 
relates  the  advancement  of  Caiaphas  to  the  high  priesthood  in 
this  manner  :  '  Gratus  gave  the  high  priesthood  to  Simon,  the 
son  of  Camithus.  He,  having  enjoyed  this  honor  not  above 
a  year,  was  succeeded  by  Joseph,  who  is  also  called  Caiaphas.1 
After  this  Gratus  went  away  for  Pome,  having  been  eleven 
years  in  Judea ;  and  Pontius  Pilate  came  thither  as  his  suc- 
cessor.'' Of  the  removal  of  Caiaphas  from  his  office,  Josephus 
likewise  afterwards  informs  us ;  and  connects  it  with  a  circum- 
stance which  fixes  the  time  to  a  date  subsequent  to  the  deter- 
mination of  Pilate's  government.  '  Yitellius  [he  tells  us] 
ordered  Pilate  to  repair  to  Rome  •  and  after  that  went  up 
himself  to  Jerusalem,  and  then  gave  directions  concerning 
several  matters.  And,  having  done  these  things,  he  took  away 
the  priesthood  from  the  High  Priest  Joseph,  who  is  called 
Caiaphas." 

XXII.  (Michaelis,  c.  xi.  sect.  11.)  Acts  xxiii.  4.  'And  they 
that  stood  by  said,  Revilest  thou  God's  High  Priest  ?  Then 
said  Paul,  I  wist  not,  brethren,  that  he  was  the  High  Priest.' 
Now,  uj)on  inquiry  into  the  history  of  the  age,  it  turns  out, 
that  Ananias,  of  whom  this  is  spoken,  was,  in  truth,  not  the 
High  Priest,  though  he  was  sitting  in  judgment  in  that 
assumed  capacity.  The  case  was,  that  he  had  formerly  held 
the  office,  and  had  been  deposed  ;  that  the  person  who  suc- 
ceeded him  had  been  murdered  ;   that  another  was  not  yet 


1  Ant.  lib.  xviiL  c.  2,  sect.  2.  2  Ibid.  c.  5,  seel.  3. 


Chap,  vi.]  Scripture  confirmed  by  independent  Accounts.     281 

appointed  to  the  station  ;  and  that,  during  the  vacancy,  he 
had,  of  his  own  authority,  taken  upon  himself  the  discharge  oi 
the  office.1  This  singular  situation  of  the  high  priesthood  took 
place  during  the  interval  between  the  death  of  Jonathan,  who 
was  murdered  by  order  of  Felix,  and  the  accession  of  Ismael, 
who  was  invested  with  the  high  priesthood  by  Agrippa ;  and 
precisely  in  this  interval  it  happened  that  St.  Paul  was  appre- 
hended, and  brought  before  the  Jewish  council. 

XXIII.  (p.  323.)  Matt.  xxvi.  59.  l  Now  the  chief  priests 
and  elders,  and  all  the  council,  sought  false  witness  against 
him.' 

Jos.  Ant.  lib.  xviii.  c.  15,  sect.  3,  4.  '  Then  might  be  seen 
the  High  Priests  themselves,  with  ashes  on  their  heads,  and 
their  breasts  naked.' 

The  agreement  here  consists  in  speaking  of  the  high  priests, 
or  chief  priests  (for  the  name  in  the  original  is  the  same),  in 
the  plural  number,  when  in  strictness  there  was  only  one  High 
Priest :  which  may  be  considered  as  a  proof,  that  the  evan- 
gelists were  habituated  to  the  manner  of  speaking  then  in  use, 
because  they  retain  it  when  it  is  neither  accurate  nor  just. 
For  the  sake  of  brevity  I  have  put  down  from  Josephus,  only 
a  single  example  of  the  application  of  this  title  in  the  plural 
number  ;  but  it  is  his  usual  style. 

Ibid.  (p.  871.)  Luke  iii.  1.  'Now  in  the  fifteenth  year  of  the 
reign  of  Tiberius  Csesar,  Pontius  Pilate  being  governor  of  Judea, 
and  Herod  being  tetrarch  of  Galilee,  Annas  and  Caiaphas 
being  the  High  Priests,  the  word  of  God  came  unto  John.' 
There  is  a  passage  in  Josephus  very  nearly  parallel  to  this,  and 
which  may  at  least  serve  to  vindicate  the  evangelist  from  objec- 
tion, with  respect  to  his  giving  the  title  of  High  Priest  speci- 
fically to  two  persons  at  the  same  time  :  '  Quadratus  sent  two 
others  of  the  most  powerful  men  of  the  Jews,  as  also  the  High 
Priests  Jonat/tan  and  Ananias."  That  Annas  was  a  person  in 
an  eminent  station,  and  possessed  an  authority  co-ordinate  with, 
or  next  to  that  of  the  High  Priest  properly  so-called,  may  be 
inferred  from  St.  John's  gospel,  which,  in  the  history  of  Christ's 
crucifixion,  relates  that  '  the  soldiers  led  him  away  to  Annas 


Jos.  Ant.  1.  xx.  c.  5,  sect.  2  ;  c.  6,  sect.  2  ;  c.  9,  sect.  2. 
2  De  Bell.  lib.  xL  c.  12,  sect.  6. 


282  Evidences  of  Christianity.  [Part  II. 

first.'1    And  this  might  be  noticed  as  an  example  of  undesigned 
coincidence  in  the  two  evangelists. 

Again,  (p.  870.)  Acts  iv.  6.  Annas  is  called  the  High  Priest, 
though  Caiaphas  was  in  the  office  of  the  high  priesthood.  In 
like  manner  in  Josephus,3  '  Joseph,  the  son  of  Gorion,  and  the 
High  Priest  Ananus,  were  chosen  to  be  supreme  governors  of 
all  things  in  the  city.'  Yet  Ananus,  though  here  called  the 
High  Priest  Ananus,  was  not  then  in  the  office  of  the  high 
priesthood.  The  truth  is,  there  is  an  indeterminateness  in  the 
use  of  this  title  in  the  gospel ;  sometimes  it  is  applied  exclu- 
sively to  the  person  who  held  the  office  at  the  time  ;  sometimes 
to  one  or  two  more,  who  probably  shared  with  him  some  of  the 
powers  or  functions  of  the  office ;  and,  sometimes,  to  such  of 
the  priests  as  were  eminent  by  their  station  or  character  :3  and 
there  is  the  very  same  indeterminateness  in  Josephus. 

XXIV.  (p.  347.)  John  xix.  19,  20.  '  And  Pilate  wrote  a 
title,  and  put  it  on  the  cross.'  That  such  was  the  custom  of 
the  Romans  upon  these  occasions,  appears  from  passages  of 
Suetonius  and  Dio  Cassius  :  '  Patrem  familias — eanibus  objecit, 
cum  hoc  titulo,  Impie  locutus  parmularius.' — (Suet.  Domit. 
cap.  x.)  And  in  Dio  Cassius  we  have  the  following  :  '  Having 
led  him  through  the  midst  of  the  court  or  assembly,  with  a 
writing  signifying  the  cause  of  his  death,  and  afterwards  cru- 
cifying him.' — Book  liv. 

Ibid.  '  And  it  was  written  in  Hebrew,  Greek,  and  Latin.' 
That  it  was  also  usual,  about  this  time,  in  Jerusalem,  to  set  up 
advertisements  in  different  languages,  is  gathered  from  the 
account  which  Josephus  gives  of  an  expostulatory  message 
from  Titus  to  the  Jews,  when  the  city  was  almost  in  his  hands  ; 
in  which  he  says,  Did  ye  not  erect  pillars  with  inscriptions  on 
them,  in  the  Greek  and  in  our  language,  '  Let  no  one  pass 
beyond  these  bounds  V 

XXV.  (p.  352.)  Matt,  xxvii.  26.  '  When  he  had  scourged 
Jesus,  he  delivered  him  to  be  crucified.' 

The  following  passages  occur  in  Josephus  : 

'  Being  beaten,  they  were  crucified  opposite  to  the  citadel.'" 

'  Whom,  having  first  scourged  with  whips,  he  crucified.'5 


1  Ch.  xviii.  13.  *  DeBtll  ii.  c.  20,  sect  3.  s  Mark  xiv.  53. 

4  P.  1217,  24  edit.  Iluds.  *  P.  1080,  45  edit 


Chap,  vi.]  Scripture  confirmed  by  independent  Accounts.     283 

'  lie  was  burnt  alive,  having  been  first  beaten." 
To  which  may  be  added  one  from  Livy,  lib.  xi.  c.  5.     '  Pro- 
ductique  omnes,  virgisque  ccesi,  ac  securi  percussi.' 

A  modern  example  may  illustrate  the  use  we  make  of  this 
instance.  The  preceding  of  a  capital  execution  by  the  corporal 
punishment  of  the  sufferer,  is  a  practice  unknown  in  England, 
but  retained,  in  some  instances  at  least,  as  appears  by  the  late 
execution  of  a  regicide,  in  Sweden.  This  circumstance,  there- 
fore, in  the  account  of  an  English  execution  purporting  to 
come  from  an  English  writer,  would  not  only  bring  a  sus- 
picion upon  the  truth  of  the  account,  but  would,  in  a  con- 
siderable degree,  impeach  its  pretensions  of  having  been  written 
by  the  author  whose  name  it  bore.  Whereas  the  same  cir- 
cumstance, in  the  account  of  a  Swedish  execution,  would  verify 
the  account,  and  support  the  authenticity  of  the  book  in  which  it 
was  found ;  or,  at  least,  would  prove  that  the  author,  whoever 
he  was,  possessed  the  information  and  the  knowledge  which  he 
ought  to  possess. 

XXVI.  (p.  353.)  John  xix.  16.  '  And  they  took  Jesus,  and 
led  him  away,  and  he,  bearing  his  cross,  went  forth.' 

Plutarch.  De  lis  qui  sero  puniuntur,  p.  554.  A  Paris,  1624. 
'  Every  kind  of  wickedness  produces  its  own  particular  tor- 
ment, just  as  every  malefactor,  when  he  is  brought  forth  to 
execution,  carries  his  own  cross.'' 

XXVII.  John  xix.  32.  '  Then  came  the  soldiers,  and  brake 
the  legs  of  the  first,  and  of  the  other  which  was  crucified  with 
him.' 

Constantine  abolished  the  punishment  of  the  cross  ;  in  com- 
mending which  edict  a  heathen  writer  notices  this  very  circum- 
stance of  breaking  the  legs :  '  Eo  pius,  ut  etiam  vetns  veterri- 
mumque  supplicium,  patibulum,  et  cruribus  suffringendis, 
primus  removerit.' — Aur.  Vict.  Ces.  cap.  xli. 

XXVIII.  (p.  457.)  Acts  iii.  1.  '  Now  Peter  and  John  went 
up  together,  into  the  temple,  at  the  hour  of  prayer,  being  the 
ninth  hour.' 

Jos.  Ant.  lib.  xv.  c.  7,  sect.  8.  '  Twice  every  day,  in  the 
morning,  and  at  the  ninth  hour,  the  priests  perform  their  duty 
at  the  altar.' 


1  P.  1327,  43  edit. 


2S4  Evidences  of  Christianity.  [Part  II. 

XXIX.  (p.  462.)  Acts  xv.  21.  '  For  Moses,  of  old  time,  hath, 
in  every  city,  them  that  preach  him,  being  read  in  the  synagogues 
every  sabbath  day.'' 

Jos.  contra  Ap.  1.  ii.  '  He  [Moses]  gave  us  the  law,  the 
most  excellent  of  all  institutions  ;  nor  did  he  appoint  that  it 
should  he  heard,  once  only,  or  twice,  or  often,  but  that,  laying 
aside  all  other  works,  we  should  meet  together  every  week  to 
hear  it  read,  and  gain  a  perfect  understanding  of  it.' 

XXX.  (p.  465.)  Acts  xxi.  23.  '  We  have  four  men,  which 
have  a  vow  on  them  ;  them  take,  and  purify  thyself  with  them, 
that  they  may  shave  their  heads.'' 

Jos.  de  Bell.  1.  xi.  c.  15.  '  It  is  customary  for  those  who 
have  been  afflicted  with  some  distemper,  or  have  labored  under 
any  other  difficulties,  to  make  a  vow  thirty  days  before  they 
offer  sacrifices,  to  abstain  from  wine,  and  shave  the  hair  of  their 
heads? 

Ibid.  v.  24.  '  Them  take,  and  purify  thyself  with  them,  and 
be  at  charges  with  them  that  they  may  shave  their  heads? 

Jos.  Ant.  1.  xix.  c.  6.  '  He  [Herod  Agrippa]  coming  to 
Jerusalem,  offered  up  sacrifices  of  thanksgiving,  and  omitted 
nothing  that  was  prescribed  by  the  law.  For  which  reasoji  lie 
also  ordered  a  good  number  of  Nazarites  to  be  shaved?  We 
here  find  that  it  was  an  act  of  piety  amongst  the  Jews,  to 
defray  for  those  who  were  under  the  Nazaritic  vow  the  ex- 
penses which  attended  its  completion  ;  and  that  the  phrase 
was,  '  that  they  might  be  shaved.'  The  custom  and  the  ex- 
pression are  both  remarkable,  and  both  in  close  conformity 
with  the  scripture  account. 

XXXI.  (p.  474.)  2  Cor.  xi.  24.  <  Of  the  Jews  five  times 
received  I  forty  stripes  save  one? 

Jos.  Ant.  iv.  c.  8,  sect.  21.  '  He  that  acts  contrary  hereto, 
let  him  receive  forty  stripes,  wanting  one,  from  the  public  officer.' 

The  coincidence  here  is  singular,  because  the  law  allowed 
forty  stripes  : — '  Forty  stripes  he  may  give  him,  and  not  ex- 
ceed.'— Dent,  xxv.  3.  It  proves  that  the  author  of  the  epistle 
to  the  Corinthians  was  guided  not  by  books,  but  by  facts  ; 
because  his  statement  agrees  with  the  actual  custom,  even  when 
that  custom  deviated  from  the  written  law,  and  from  what  he 
must  have  learnt  by  consulting  the  Jewish  code,  as  set  forth  in 
the  Old  Testament. 


Chap,  vi.]  Scripture  confirmed  by  independent  Accounts.     285 

* 

XXXII.  (p.  490.)  Luke  iii.  12.  'Then  came  also  publicans 
to  be  baptised.'  From  this  quotation,  as  well  as  from  the 
history  of  Levi  or  Matthew  (Luke  v.  29),  and  of  Zaccheus 
(Luke  xix.  2),  it  appears,  that  the  publicans  or  tax-gatherers 
were,  frequently  at  least,  if  not  always,  Jews  :  which,  as  the 
country  was  then  under  a  Roman  government,  and  the  taxes 
were  paid  to  the  Romans,  was  a  circumstance  not  to  be  ex- 
pected. That  it  was  the  truth  however  of  the  case,  appears 
from  a  short  passage  of  Josephus. 

De  Bell.  lib.  ii.  c.  14,  sect.  45.  '  But  Floras  not  restraining 
these  practices  by  his  authority,  the  chief  men  of  the  Jews, 
among  whom  was  John  the  publican,  not  knowing  well  what 
course  to  take,  wait  upon  Floras,  and  give  him  eight  talents  of 
silver  to  stop  the  building.' 

XXXIII.  (p.  496.)  Acts  xxii.  25.  'And  as  they  bound 
him  with  thongs,  Paul  said  unto  the  centurion  that  stood  by, 
Is  it  lawful  for  you  to  scourge  a  man  that  is  a  Roman,  and  un- 
condemned  ? ' 

'  Facinus  est  vinciri  civem  Romanum:  scelus  verberari.' — 
Cic.  in  Verr. 

'  Csedebatur  virgis,  in  medio  foro  Messanse,  civis  Romanus, 
Judices  :  cum  interea  nullus  gemitus,  nulla  vox  alia,  istius 
miseri,  inter  dolorem  crepitumque  plagarum,  audiebatur,  nisi 
hasc,  Civis  Romanus  sum.'' 

XXXIV.  (p.  513.)  Acts  xxii.  27.  '  Then  the  chief  captain 
came,  and  said  unto  him  [Paul],  Tell  me,  Art  thou  a  Roman  ? 
He  said,  Yea.'  The  circumstance  here  to  be  noticed  is,  that  a 
Jew  wTas  a  Roman  citizen. 

Jos.  Ant.  lib.  xiv.  c.  10,  sect.  13.  '  Lucius  Lentulus,  the 
consul,  declared,  I  have  dismissed  from  the  service  the  Jewish 
Roman  citizens,  who  observe  the  rites  of  the  Jewish  religion  at 
Ephesus.' 

Ibid.  v.  27.  '  And  the  chief  captain  answered,  "With  a  great 
sum  obtained  I  this  freedom.'' 

Dio  Cassius,  lib.  Ix.  '  This  privilege,  which  had  been  bought 
formerly  at  a  great  price,  became  so  cheap,  that  it  was  com- 
monly said,  a  man  might  be  made  a  Roman  citizen  for  a  few 
pieces  of  broken  glass.' 

XXXY.  (p.  521.)  Acts,  xxviii.  16.  '  And  when  we  came  to 
Rome,  the  centurion   delivered  the  prisoners  to  the  captain  oi 


286  Evidences  of  Christianity.  [Part  II. 

the  guard  ;  but  Paul  was  suffered  to  dwell  by  himself,  with  a 
soldier  that  kept  him.'' 

With  which  join  v.  20.  '  For  the  hope  of  Israel  I  am  bound 
with  this  cha'tii.' 

'  Quemadinodum  eadem  catena  et  custodiam  et  militem 
copulat,  sic  ista,  quae  tam  dissimilia  sunt,  pariter  incedunt.' 
— Seneca,  ep.  v. 

'  Proconsul  sestimare  solet,  ntrum  in  carcerem  recipienda  sit 
persona,  an  militi  tradenda? — Ulpian.  1.  i.  sec.  De  Custod.  et 
Exhib.  reor. 

In  the  confinement  of  Agrippa  by  the  order  of  Tiberius, 
Antonia  managed,  that  the  centurion  who  presided  over  the 
guards,  and  the  soldier  to  whom  Agrippa  was  to  be  bound, 
might  be  men  of  mild  character. — Jos.  Ant.  lib.  xvii.  c.  7, 
sect.  5.  After  the  accession  of  Caligula,  Agrippa  also,  like 
Paul,  was  suffered  to  dwell,  yet  as  a  prisoner,  in  his  own 
house. 

XXXVI.  (p.  531.)  Acts  xxvii.  1  '  And  when  it  was 
determined  that  we  should  sail  into  Italy,  they  delivered  Paul, 
and  certain  other  prisoners,  unto  one  named  Julius.'  Sincenot 
only  Paul,  but  certain  other  prisoners,  were  sent  by  the  same 
ship  into  Italy,  the  text  must  be  considered  as  carrying  with 
it  an  intimation,  that  the  sending  of  persons  from  Judea  to 
be  tried  at  Rome,  was  an  ordinary  practice.  That  in  truth  it 
was  so,  is  made  out  by  a  variety  of  examples  which  the  writings 
of  Josephus  furnish :  and,  amongst  others,  by  the  following, 
which  comes  near  both  to  the  time  and  the  subject  of  the 
instance  in  the  Acts.  '  Felix,  for  some  slight  offence,  bound 
and  sent  to  Borne  several  priests  of  his  acquaintance,  and  very 
good  and  honest  men,  to  answer  for  themselves  to  Ceesar.' — Jos. 
in  Vit.  sect.  3. 

XXXVII.  (p.  539.)  Acts  xi.  27.  '  And  in  these  days  came 
prophets  from  Jerusalem  unto  Antioch  ;  and  there  stood  up 
one  of  them,  named  Agabus,  and  signified  by  the  spirit  that 
there  should  be  a  great  dearth  throughout  all  the  world  [or 
all  the  country],  tohich  came  to  pass  in  the  days  of  Claudius 
Ccesar? 

Jos.  Ant.  1.  xx.  c.  4,  sect.  2.  '  In  their  time  [i.e.,  about 
the  fifth  or  sixth  year  of  Claudius]  a  great  dearth  happened  in 
Judea.' 


Chap,  vi.]   Scripture  confirmed  by  independent  Accounts.     287 

XXXVIII.  (p.  555.)  Acts  xviii.  1,2.  '  Because  that  Clau- 
dius had  commanded  all  Jews  to  depart  from  Rome.' 

Suet.  Claud,  c.  xxv.  '  Judaeos,  impulsore  Chresto  assidue 
tumultuantes,  Roma  expulit.' 

XXXIX.  (p.  664.)  Acts  v.  37.  '  After  this  man  rose  up 
Judas  of  Galilee,  in  the  days  of  the  taxing,  and  drew  away 
much  people  after  him.' 

Jos.  de  Bell.  1.  vii.  '  He  [viz.,  the  person,  who  in  another 
place  is  called,  by  Josephus,  Judas  the  Galilean,  or  Judas  of 
Galilee]  persuaded  not  a  few  not  to  enrol  themselves,  when 
Cyrenius  the  censor  was  sent  into  Judea.' 

XL.  (p.  942.)  Acts  xxi.  38.  '  Art  not  thou  that  Egyptian 
which,  before  these  days,  madest  an  uproar,  and  leddest 
out  into  the  wilderness  four  thousand  men  that  were  mur- 
derers V 

Jos.  de  Bell.  1.  ii.  c.  13,  sect.  5.  '  But  the  Egyptian  false 
prophet  brought  a  yet  heavier  disaster  upon  the  Jews  ;  for  this 
impostor,  coming  into  the  country,  and  gaining  the  reputation 
of  a  prophet,  gathered  together  thirty  thousand  men,  who  were 
deceived  by  him.  Having  brought  them  round  out  of  the 
wilderness,  up  to  the  Mount  of  Olives,  he  intended  from 
thence  to  make  his  attack  upon  Jerusalem  ;  but  Felix,  coming 
suddenly  upon  him  with  the  Roman  soldiers,  prevented  the 
attack. — A  great  number,  or  [as  it  should  rather  be  rendered] 
the  greatest  part  of  those  that  were  with  him,  were  either  slain 
or  taken  prisoners.' 

In  these  two  passages,  the  designation  of  the  impostor,  an 
'  Egyptian,'  without  his  proper  name ;  '  the  wilderness  ;'  his 
escape,  though  his  followers  were  destroyed ;  the  time  of  the 
transaction,  in  the  presidentship  of  Felix,  which  could  not  be 
any  long  time  before  the  words  in  Luke  are  supposed  to  have 
been  spoken  ;  are  circumstances  of  close  correspondency.  There 
is  one,  and  only  one,  point  of  disagreement,  and  that  is,  in  the 
number  of  his  followers,  which  in  the  Acts  are  called  four 
thousand,  and  by  Josephus  thirty  thousand  :  but,  beside  that 
the  names  of  numbers,  more  than  any  other  words,  are  liable 
to  the  errors  of  transcribers,  we  are,  in  the  present  instance, 
under  the  less  concern  to  reconcile  the  evangelist  with  Josephus, 
as  Josephus  is  not,  in  this  point,  consistent  with  himself.  For 
whereas,  in  the  passage  here  quoted,  he  calls  the  number  thirty 


288  Evidences  of  Christianit//.  [Part  II. 

thousand,  and  tells  us  that  the  greatest  part,  or  a  great  number 
(according  as  his  words  are  rendered)  of  those  that  were  with 
him,  were  destroyed,  in  his  Antiquities,  he  represents  four  hun- 
dred to  have  been  killed  upon  this  occasion,  and  two  hundred 
taken  prisoners  :l  which  certainly  was  not  the  '  greatest  part,' 
nor  '  a  great  part,'  nor  '  a  great  number,'  out  of  thirty  thou- 
sand. It  is  probable  also,  that  Lysias  and  Josephus  spoke  of 
the  expedition  in  its  different  stages  ;  Lysias,  of  those  who 
followed  the  Egyptian  out  of  Jerusalem ;  Josephus,  of  all 
who  were  collected  about  him  afterwards,  from  different 
quarters. 

XLI.  (Lardner's  Jewish  and  Heathen  Testimonies,  vol.  iii. 
p.  21.)  Acts  xvii.  22.  'Then  Paul  stood  in  the  midst  of  Mars- 
hill,  and  said,  Ye  men  of  Athens,  I  perceive  that  in  all  things 
ye  are  too  superstitious  ;  for,  as  I  passed  by  and  beheld  your 
devotions,  I  found  an  altar  with  this  inscription,  TO  THE 
UNKNOWN  GOD.  Whom  therefore  ye  ignorantly  wor- 
ship, him  declare  I  unto  you.' 

Diogenes  Laertius,  who  wrote  about  the  year  2KX,  in  his 
history  of  Epimenides,  who  is  supj)osed  to  have  flourished 
nearly  six  hundred  years  before  Christ,  relates  of  him  thevfol- 
lowing  story  :  that  being  invited  to  Athens  for  the  purpose,  he 
delivered  the  city  from  a  pestilence  in  this  manner — '  Taking 
several  sheep,  some  black,  others  white,  he  had  them  up  to  the 
Areopagus,  and  then  let  them  go  where  they  would,  and  gave 
orders  to  those  who  followed  them,  wherever  any  of  them  should 
lie  down,  to  sacrifice  it  to  the  god  to  whom  it  belonged  ;  and  so 
the  plague  ceased.  Hence,'  says  the  historian, '  it  has  come  to 
pass,  ///"/,  t<>  t hi x present  time,  may  he  f mind  in  the  boroughs  of 
the  Athenians  anonymous  altars:  a  memorial  of  the  expiation 
then  made.'2  These  altars,  it  maybe  presumed,  were  called 
anonymous,  because  there  was  not  the  name  of  any  particular 
deity  inscribed  upon  them. 

I'auwniiax,  who  wrote  before  the  end  of  the  second  century, 
in  his  description  of  Athens,  having  mentioned  an  altar  of 
Jupiter  Olympus,  adds,  '  And  nigh  unto  it  is  an  altar  of  tin- 
Inown  gods?*  And,  in  another  place,  he  speaks  '  of  altars  of 
gods  called  unknown.1* 

1  Lib.  xx.  c.  7,  sect,  6.  2  In  Epimenide,  1  i.  segm.  110. 

3  Pons.  1.  v.  p.  412.  1  Ibid   l.  i   p  4. 


Chap,  vi.]   Scrip'ure  confirmed  hy  independent  Accounts.       289 

Philostratus,  who  wrote  in  the  beginning  of  the  third  cen- 
tury, records  it  as  an  observation  of  Apollonins  Tyauseus, 
'  That  it  was  wise  to  speak  well  of  all  the  gods,  especially  at 
Athens,  where  altars  of  unknown  demons  were  erected.''1 

The  author  of  the  dialogue  Philopatris,  by  many  supposed 
to  have  been  Lucian,  who  wrote  about  the  year  170,  by  others 
some  anonymous  heathen  writer  of  the  fourth  century,  makes 
Critias  swear  by  the  unknown  God  of  Athens ;  and,  near  the 
end  of  the  dialogue,  has  these  words, '  but  let  us  find  out  the 
unknown  God  at  Athens,  and  stretching  our  hands  to  heaven, 
offer  to  him  our  praises  and  thanksgivings.'2 

This  is  a  very  curious  and  a  very  important  coincidence.  It 
appears  beyond  controversy,  that  altars  with  this  inscription 
were  existing  at  Athens,  at  the  time  when  St.  Paul  is  alleged 
to  have  been  there.  It  seems  also,  which  is  very  worthy  of 
observation,  that  this  inscription  was,  peculiar  to  the  Athenians. 
There  is  no  evidence  that  there  were  altars  inscribed  '  to  the 
unknown  God'  in  any  other  country.  Supposing  the  history 
of  St.  Paul  to  have  been  a  fable,  how  is  it  possible  that  such  a 
writer  as  the  author  of  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles  was,  should 
hit  upon  a  circumstance  so  extraordinary,  and  introduce  it  by 
an  allusion  so  suitable  to  St.  Paul's  office  and  character? 


The  examples  here  collected  will  be  sufficient,  I  hope,  to 
satisfy  us,  that  the  writers  of  the  christian  history  knew  some- 
thing of  what  they  were  writing  about.  The  argument  is  also 
strengthened  by  the  following  considerations  : 

I.  That  these  arguments  appear,  not  only  in  articles  of 
public  history,  but,  sometimes,  in  minute,  recondite,  and  very 
peculiar  circumstances,  in  which,  of  all  others,  a  forger  is  most 
likely  to  have  been  found  tripping. 

II.  That  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem,  which  took  place 
forty  years  after  the  commencement  of  the  christian  institu- 
tion, produced  such  a  change  in  the  state  of  the  country,  and 
the  condition  of  the  Jews,  that  a  writer  who  was  unacquainted 
with  the  circumstances  of  the  nation  before  that  event,  would 
find    it   difficult    to    avoid    mistakes,  in    endeavoring   to  give 


1  Philos.  Apoll.  Tyan.  1.  vi.  c.  3. 
2  Lucian  in  Philnp.  torn,  ii  ;  Graev.  pp.  7C>7,  780. 

19 


290  Evidences  of  Christianity.  [Part  II 

detai  id  accounts  of  transactions  connected  with  those  circum- 
stanr  28,  forasmuch  as  he  could  no  longer  have  a  living  exemplar 
to  c  py  from. 

Jill.  That  there  appears,  in  the  writers  of  the  New  Testament, 
a  knowledge  of  the  affairs  of  those  times,  which  we  do  not 
find  in  authors  of  liter  ages.  In  particular,  many  of  the 
christian  writers  of  the  second  and  third  centuries,  and  of  the 
following  ages,  had  false  notions  concerning  the  state  of  Judea, 
between  the  nativity  of  Jesus  and  the  destruction  of  Jerusa- 
lem.'1    Therefore  they  could  not  have  composed  our  histories. 

Amidst  so  many  conformities,  we  are  not  to  wonder  that  we 
meet  with  some  difficulties.  The  principal  of  these  I  will  put 
down,  together  with  the  solutions  which  they  have  received. 
But  in  doing  this  I  must  be  contented  with  a  brevity  better 
suited  to  the  limits  of  my  volume  than  to  the  nature  of  a  con- 
troversial argument.  For  the  historical  proofs  of  my  assertions, 
and  for  the  Greek  criticisms  upon  which  some  of  them  are 
founded,  I  refer  the  reader  to  the  second  volume  of  the  first 
part  of  Dr.  Lardner's  large  work. 

I.  The  taxing  during  which  Jesus  was  born,  was  '  first 
made,'  as  we  read,  according  to  our  translation,  in  St.  Luke, 
'whilst  Cyrenius  was  governor  of  Syria.'2  Now  it  turns  out 
that  Cyrenius  was  not  governor  of  Syria  until  twelve,  or,  at  the 
soonest,  ten  years  after  the  birth  of  Christ ;  and  that  a  taxing, 
census,  or  assessment,  was  made  in  Judea  in  the  beginnine  of 
his  government.  The  charge,  therefore,  brought  against  the 
evangelist  is,  that,  intending  to  refer  to  this  taxing,  he  has 
misplaced  the  date  of  it  by  an  error  of  ten  or  twelve  years. 

The  answer  to  the  accusation  is  found  in  his  using  the  word 
'first' — 'and  this  taxing  was  first  made;'  for,  according  to  the 
mistake  imputed  to  the  evangelist,  this  word  could  have  no 
signification  whatever:  it  could  have  noplace  in  his  narrative; 
because,  let  it  relate  to  what  it  will,  taxing,  census,  enrolment, 
or  assessment,  it  imports  that  the  writer  had  more  than  one  of 
these  in  contemplation.  It  acquits  him  therefore  of  the  charge, 
it  is  inconsistent  with  the  supposition  of  his  knowing  only  of 
the  taxing  in  the  beginning  of  Cyrenius's  government.  And  if 
the  evangelist  knew,  which  this  word  proves  that  he  did,  of 


1  Lard,  part  i    vol.  ii    p    9fi0  "  Chap    ii.  ver. 


Chap,  vi.]  Scripture  confirmed  oy  independent  Accounts.      291 

some  other  taxing  beside  that,  it  is  too  much,  for  the  sake  of 
convicting  him  of  a  mistake,  to  lay  it  down  as  certain  that  he 
intended  to  refer  to  that. 

The  sentence  in  St.  Luke  may  be  construed  thus:  'This 
was  the  first  assessment  [or  enrolment]  of  Cyrenius,  governor 
of  Syria ;' l  the  words  '  governor  of  Syria'  being  used  after  the 
name  of  Cvrenius  as  his  addition  or  title.  And  this  title, 
belonging  to  him  at  the  time  of  writing  the  account,  was  natu- 
rally enough  subjoined  to  his  name,  though  acquired  after  the 
transaction  which  the  account  describes.  A  modern  writer, 
who  was  not  very  exact  in  the  choice  of  his  expressions,  in  re- 
lating the  affairs  of  the  East  Indies,  might  easily  say,  that  such 
a  thing  was  done  by  Governor  Hastings,  though,  in  truth,  the 
thing  had  been  done  by  him  before  his  advancement  to  the 
station  from  which  he  received  the  name  of  governor.  And 
this,  as  we  contend,  is  precisely  the  inaccuracy  which  has  pro- 
duced the  difficulty  in  St.  Luke. 

At  any  rate,  it  appears  from  the  form  of  the  expression 
that  he  had  two  taxings  or  enrolments  in  contemplation.  And 
if  Cyrenius  had  been  sent  upon  this  business  into  Judea, 
before  he  became  governor  of  Syria  (against  which  supposition 
there  is  no  proof,  but  rather  external  evidence  of  an  enrolment 
going  on  about  this  time  under  some  person  or  other),2  then 
the  census  on  all  hands  acknowledged  to  have  been  made  by 
him  in  the  beginning  of  his  government,  wTould  form  a  second, 
so  as  to  occasion  the  other  to  be  called  the^r^. 

II.  Another  chronological  objection  arises  upon  a  date  as- 
signed in  the  beginning  of  the  third  chapter  of  St.  Luke.3 
'  Now  in  the  fifteenth  year  of  the  reign  of  Tiberius  Csesar — 


1  If  the  word  which  we  render  '  first'  he  rendered  'before,'  which  it  has  been 
strongly  contended  that  the  Greek  idiom  allows  of.  the  whole  difficulty  vanishes  ; 
for  then  the  passage  would  be — '  Now  this  taxing  was  made  before  Cyrenius  was 
governor  of  Syria  ;'  which  corresponds  with  the  chronology.  But  I  rather  choose 
to  argue,  that,  however  the  word  '  first'  be  rendered,  to  give  it  a  meaning  at  all, 
it  militates  with  the  objection.     In  this  I  think  there  can  be  no  mistake. 

3  Josephus  (Ant.  xvii.  c.  2,  sect.  6)  has  this  remarkable  passage — '  When  there- 
fore the  whole  Jewish  nation  took  an  oath  to  be  faithful  to  Caasar,  and  the  interests 
of  the  king.'  This  transaction  corresponds  in  the  course  of  the  history  with  the 
time  of  Christ's  birth.  What  is  called  a  census,  and  which  we  render  taxing,  was 
delivering  upon  oath  an  account  of  their  property.  This  might  be  accompanied 
with  an  oath  of  fidelity,  or  might  be  mistaken  by  Josephus  for  it. 

8  Lard,  part  i.  vol.  ii.  p.  768. 


292  Evidences  of  Christianity.  [Part  II. 

lesus  began  to  be  about  thirty  years,  of  age ;'  for  supposing  Jesus 
ro  have  been  born,  as  St.  Matthew,  and  St.  Luke  also  himself, 
•elate,  in  the  time  of  Herod,  he  must,  according  to  the  dates 
riven  in  Josephus  and  by  the  Roman  historians,  have  been  at 
east  thirty-one  years  of  age  in  the  fifteenth  year  of  Tiberius. 
if  he  was  born,  as  St.  Matthew's  narrative  intimates,  one  or 
wo  years  before  Herod's  death,  he  would  have  been  thirty-two 
>r  thirty-three  years  old  at  that  time. 

This  is  the  difficulty :  the  solution  turns  upon  an  alteration 
in  the  construction  of  the  Greek.  St.  Luke's  words  in  the 
original  are  allowed,  by  the  general  opinion  of  learned  men,  to 
signify,  not  '  that  Jesus  began  to  be  about  thirty  years  of  age,' 
but  'that  he  was  about  thirty  years  of  age  when  he  began  his 
ministry.'  This  construction  being  admitted,  the  adverb 
'  about'  gives  us  all  the  latitude  we  want,  and  more,  especially 
when  applied,  as  it  is  in  the  present  instance,  to  a  decimal 
number;  for  such  numbers,  even  without  this  qualifying  addi- 
i  ion,  are  often  used  in  a  laxer  sense  than  is  here  contended 
>v.1 

III.  Acts  v.  3G.     '  For  before  these  days  rose  up  Theudas, 

masting  himself  to  be  somebody;  to  whom  a  number  of  men, 

ibout  four  hundred,  joined  themselves;  who  was  slain;  and 

ill,  as  many  as  obeyed  him,  were  scattered  and  brought  to 

nought.' 

Josephus  has  preserved  the  account  of  an  impostor  of  the 
name  of  Theudas,  who  created  some  disturbances,  and  was 
slain  ;  but,  according  to  the  date  assigned  to  this  man's  ap- 
pearance  (in  which,  however,  it  is  very  possible  that  Josephus 
may  have  been  mistaken),2  it  must  have  been,  at  the  least, 
■\tii  years  after  Gamaliel's  speech,  of  which  this  text  is  a 
part,  was  delivered.     It  has  been  replied  to  the  objection,"1  that 


1  Livy,  speaking  of  the  peace  which  the  conduct  of  Romulus  bad  procured  to 
tin-  state  during  tin-  whole  reign  of  his  successor0  i  Numa),  has  these  words — '  Ab 
illo  cnim  profectia  viribus  datis  tan  turn  valuit,  ut,  in  quadraginta  deinde  annos, 
(ntaiii  paeem  haheret  :'  jet  afterwards  in  the  same  chapter,  '  Romulus  [he  says] 
;eptem  ei  trigiuta  regnavit  annus.  Numa  tres  ei  quadraginta.' 

3  Michaelis's  Introduction  to  the  New  Testament  I  Marsh's  translation),  vol.  i.  p.  61. 
3  Lardner,  part  i.  vol.  ii.  p.  922. 


Liv    Hitsl.  c.  i    sect,  16. 


Chap,  vi.]    Scripture  confirmed  by  independent  Accounts.     293 

there  might  he  two  impostors  of  this  name:  and  it  has  been 
observed,  in  order  to  give  a  general  probability  to  the  solution, 
that  the  same  tiling  appears  to  have  happened  in  other  instances 
of  the  same  kind.  It  is  proved  from  Josephus,  that  there  were 
not  fewer  than  four  persons  of  the  name  of  Simon  within  forty 
years,  and  not  fewer  than  three  of  the  name  of  Judas  within  ten 
years,  who  were  all  leaders  of  insurrections:  and  it  is  likewise 
recorded  by  this  historian,  that  upon  the  death  of  Herod  the 
Great  (which  agrees  very  well  with  the  time  of  the  commotion 
referred  to  by  Gamaliel,  and  with  his  manner  of  stating  that 
time  '  before  these  days')  there  were  innumerable  disturbances 
in  Judea.1  Archbishop  Usher  was  of  opinion,  that  one  of  the 
three  Judases  above  mentioned  was  Gamaliel's  Theudas;2  and 
that  with  a  less  variation  of  the  name  than  we  actually  find  in 
the  gospels,  where  one  of  the  twelve  apostles  is  called  by  Luke, 
Judas;  and  by  Mark, Thaddeus.3  Origen,  however  he  came  at 
his  information,  appears  to  have  believed  that  there  was  an 
impostor  of  the  name  of  Theudas  before  the  nativity  of  Christ.4 

IV.  Matt,  xxiii.  3-t.  'Wherefore,  behold,  I  send  unto  you 
prophets,  and  wise  men,  and  scribes  :  and  some  of  them  ye 
shall  kill  and  crucify ;  and  some  of  them  shall  ye  scourge  in 
your  synagogues,  and  persecute  them  from  city  to  city :  that 
upon  you  may  come  all  the  righteous  blood  shed  upon  the 
earth,  from  the  blood  of  righteous  Abel  unto  the  blood  of 
Zacharias,  son  of  Barachias,  whom  ye  slew  between,  the  temple 
and  the  altar.'' 

There  is  a  Zacharias,  whose  death  is  related  in  the  second 
book  of  Chronicles,  in  a  manner  which  perfectly  supports  our 
Saviour's   allusion.5     But  this  Zacharias   was   the   son   of  Je- 

hoiada. 

There  is  also  Zacharias  the  prophet ;  who  was  the  son  of 
Barachiah,  and  is  so  described  in  the  superscription  of  his  pro- 
phecy, but  of  whose  death  we  have  no  account. 


1  Ant.  1.  xvii.  c.  12,  sect   4.  2  Annals,  p.  797. 

3  Luke  vi.  16  ;  Mark  iii.  18.  *  Orig.  con.  Cels.  p.  44. 

B  'And  the  Spirit  of  God  came  upon  Zechariah,  the  son  of  Jehoiada  the  priest, 
which  stood  above  the  people,  and  said  unto  them,  Thus  saith  God,  Why  trans- 
gress ye  the  commandments  of  the  Lord,  that  ye  cannot  prosper  ?  Because  ye  have 
forsaken  the  Lord,  he  hath  also  forsaken  you.  And  they  conspired  against  him, 
and  stoned  him  with  stones,  at  the  commandment  of  the  king,  in  the  court  of  the  house  of  the 
Lord.'— 2  Chron.  xxiv.  20,  21. 


294  Evidences  of  Christianity.  [Part  II. 

I  have  little  doubt  but  that  the  first  Zacharias  was  the  person 
spoken  of  by  our  Saviour ;  and  that  the  name  of  the  father  has 
been  since  added,  or  changed,  by  some  one,  who  took  it  from 
the  title  of  the  prophecy,  which  happened  to  be  better  known 
to  him  than  the  history  in  the  Chronicles. 

There  is  likewise  a  Zacharias,  the  son  of  Baruch,  related  by 
Josephus  to  have  been  slain  in  the  temple  a  few  years  before 
the  destruction  of  Jerusalem.  It  has  been  insinuated,  that  the 
words  put  into  our  Saviour's  mouth  contain  a  reference  to  this 
transaction,  and  were  composed  by  some  writer,  who  either 
confounded  the  time  of  the  transaction  with  our  Saviour's  aere, 
or  inadvertently  overlooked  the  anachronism. 

Now  suppose  it  to  have  been  so ;  suppose  these  words  to 
have  been  suggested  by  the  transaction  related  in  Josephus,  and 
to  have  been  falsely  ascribed  to  Christ ;  and  observe  what  ex- 
traordinary coincidences  (accidentally,  as  it  must  in  that  case 
have  been)  attend  the  forger's  mistake. 

First.  That  we  have  a  Zacharias  in  the  book  of  Chronicles, 
whose  death,  and  the  manner  of  it,  corresponds  with  jthe 
allusion. 

Secondly.  That  although  the  name  of  this  person's  father  be 
erroneously  put  down  in  the  Gospel,  yet  we  have  a  way  of  ac- 
counting for  the  error,  by  showing  another  Zacharias  in  the 
Jewish  Scriptures,  much  better  known  than  the  former,  whose 
patronymic  was  actually  that  which  appears  in  the  text. 

Every  one  who  thinks  upon  the  subject,  will  find  these  to  be 
circumstances  which  could  not  have  met  together  in  a  mistake, 
which  did  not  proceed  from  the  circumstances  themselves. 


I  have  noticed,  I  think,  all  the  difficulties  of  this  kind. 
They  are  few ;  some  of  them  admit  of  a  clear,  others  of  a  pro- 
bable solution.  The  reader  will  compare  them  with  the  num- 
ber, the  variety,  the  closeness,  and  the  satisfactoriness,  of  the 
instances  which  are  to  be  set  against  them ;  and  he  will  re- 
member  the  scantiness,  in  many  cases,  of  our  intelligence,  and 
that  difficulties  always  attend  imperfect  information. 


Chap,  vii.]  Undesigned  Coincidences.  295 


CHAPTER    YII. 

Undesigned  Coincidences. 

BETWEEN  the  letters  which  bear  the  name  of  St.  Paul  in 
our  collection,  and  his  history  in  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles, 
there  exist  many  notes  of  correspondency.  The  simple  perusal 
of  the  writings  is  sufficient  to  prove,  that  neither  the  history 
was  taken  from  the  letters,  nor  the  letters  from  the  history, 
and  the  undesignedness  of  the  agreements  (which  undesigned- 
ness  is  gathered  from  their  latency,  their  minuteness,  their  obli- 
quity, the  suitableness  of  the  circumstances  in  which  they  con- 
sist, to  the  places  in  which  those  circumstances  occur,  and  the 
circuitous  references  by  which  they  are  traced  out)  demonstrates 
that  they  have  not  been  produced  by  meditation,  or  by  any 
fraudulent  contrivance.  But  coincidences,  from  which  these 
causes  are  excluded,  and  which  are  too  close  and  numerous  to 
be  accounted  for  by  accidental  concurrences  of  fiction,  must 
necessarily  have  truth  for  their  foundation. 

This  argument  appeared  to  my  mind  of  so  much  value  (es- 
pecially for  its  assuming  nothing  beside  the  existence  of  the 
books),  that  I  have  pursued  it  through  St.  Paul's  thirteen 
epistles,  in  a  work  published  by  me  four  years  ago  under  the 
title  of  /force  Paulino?,.  I  am  sensible  how  feebly  any  argu- 
ment, which  depends  upon  an  induction  of  particulars,  is  repre- 
sented without  examples.  On  which  account  I  wished  to  have 
abridged  my  own  volume,  in  the  manner  in  which  I  have 
treated  Dr.  Lardner's  in  the  preceding  chapter.  But,  upon 
making  the  attempt,  I  did  not  find  it  in  my  power  to  render 
the  articles  intelligible  by  fewer  words  than  I  have  there  used. 
I  must  be  content,  therefore,  to  refer  the  reader  to  the  work 
itself.  And  I  would  particularly  invite  his  attention  to  the 
observations  which  are  made  in  it  upon  the  three  first  epis- 
tles. I  persuade  myself  that  he  will  find  the  proofs,  both  of 
agreement  and  undesignedness,  supplied  by  these  epistles,  suffi- 
cient to  support  the  conclusion  which  is  there  maintained,  in 
favor  both  of  the  genuineness  of  the  writings,  and  the  truth  of 
the  narrative. 


296  Evidences  of  Christianity.  [Part.  II. 

It  remains  only,  in  this  place,  to  point  out  how  the  argument 
hears  upon  the  general  question  of  the  christian  history. 

First,  St.  Paul  in  these  letters  affirms,  in  unequivocal  terms, 
his  own  performance  of  miracles,  and,  what  ought  particularly 
to  be  remembered,  '  That  miracles  were  the  signs  of  an  apostle. ," 
If  this  testimony  come  from  St.  Paul's  own  hand,  it  is  invalu- 
able. And  that  it  does  so,  the  argument  before  us  fixes  in  my 
mind  a  firm  assurance. 

Secondly,  it  shows  that  the  series  of  action,  represented  in 
the  epistles  of  St.  Paul,  was  real ;  which  alone  lays  a  founda- 
tion for  the  proposition  which  forms  the  subject  of  the  first 
part  of  our  present  work,  viz.,  that  the  original  witnesses  of  the 
christian  history  devoted  themselves  to  lives  of  toil,  suffering, 
and  danger,  in  consequence  of  their  belief  of  the  truth  of  that 
history,  and  for  the  sake  of  communicating  the  knowledge  of  it 
to  others. 

Thirdly,  it  proves  that  Luke,  or  whoever  was  the  author  of 
the  Acts  of  the  Apostles  (for  the  argument  does  not  depend 
upon  the  name  of  the  author,  though  I  know  no  reasom  for 
questioning  it),  was  well  acquainted  with  St.  Paul's  history  ; 
and  that  he  probably  was,  what  he  professes  himself  to  be,  a 
companion  of  St.  Paul's  travels :  which,  if  true,  establishes  in 
a  considerable  degree,  the  credit  even  of  his  gospel,  because  it 
shows  that  the  writer,  from  his  time,  situation,  and  connexions, 
possessed  opportunities  of  informing  himself  truly  concerning 
the  transactions  which  he  relates.  I  have  little  difficulty  in 
applying  to  the  Gospel  of  St.  Luke  what  is  proved  concerning 
the  Acts  of  the  Apostles,  considering  them  as  two  parts  of  the 
same  history;  tor,  though  there  are  instances  of  second  paris 
being  forgeries,  I  know  none  where  the  second  part  is  genuine, 
and  the  first  not  so. 

I  will  only  observe,  as  a  sequel  of  the  argument,  though  not 
noticed  in  my  work,  the  remarkable  similitude  between  the 
style  of  St.  John's  gospel,  and  of  St.  John's  first  epistle.  The 
style  of  St.  John's  is  not  at  all  the  style  of  St.  Paul's  epistles, 
though  both  are  very  singular  ;  nor  is  it  the  style  of  St.  James  s 
or  of  St.  Peter's  epistle:  but  it  bears  a  resemblance  to  the 
style  of  the  gospel  inscribed  with  St.  John's  name,  so  far  as 


1  Rom.  xv.  18.  19.     2  Cor.  xii.  12. 


Chap,  vii.]  Annotation.  297 

that  resemblance  can  be  expected  to  appear  which  is  not  in 
simple  narrative,  so  much  as  in  reflections,  and  in  the  represen- 
tation of  discourses.  Writings  so  circumstanced,  prove  them- 
selves, and  one  another,  to  be  genuine.  This  correspondency 
is  the  more  valuable,  as  the  epistle  itself  asserts,  in  St.  John's 
manner  indeed,  but  in  terms  sufficiently  explicit,  the  writer's 
personal  knowledge  of  Christ's  history :  '  That  which  was  from 
the  beginning,  which  we  have  heard,  which  we  have  seen  with 
our  eyes,  which  we  have  looked  upon,  and  our  hands  have 
handled,  of  the  word  of  life ;  that  which  we  have  seen  and  heard, 
declare  we  unto  you.'1  Who  would  not  desire,  who  perceives 
not  the  value  of  an  account,  delivered  by  a  writer  so  well  in- 
formed as  this? 


ANNOTATION". 

'  I  have, pursued  this  argument  [from  undesigned  coincidences] 
in  a  Work  under  the  title  of  Horse  Paulinse.' 

That  work  is  an  examination  of  the  Apostle  Paul's  Epistles 
along  with  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles,  in  order  to  show,  by  in- 
ternal evidence  alone,  that  they  must  both  be  genuine  works. 
He  discovers  a  vast  number  of  points  of  coincidence  between 
them,  so  minute,  and  evidently  undesigned,  that  it  is  totally 
impossible  they  could  ever  have  found  their  way  either  into  a 
forgery,  or  a  compilation  made  up  in  after-ages  from  floating 
traditions.  And  this  is  done  so  ably  and  so  satisfactorily,  that  I 
have  often  recommended  the  study  of  this  work  to  legal  stu- 
dents; not  merely  on  account  of  its  intrinsic  value,  with  a  view 
to  its  own  immediate  object,  but  also  as  an  admirable  exercise 
in  the  art  of  sifting  evidence. 

That  minuteness  in  the  points  of  coincidence  which  I  have 
alluded  to,  and  which  Paley  so  earnestly  dwells  on,  is  just  the 
circumstance  which,  in  a  question  of  evidence,  makes  their 
importance  the  greater.  The  unthinking  are  apt  to  overlook 
this,  and  to  conclude  that  what  is  itself  a  very  small  and 
trifling  circumstance,  is  small  and  unimportant  as  a  proof  \  But 
the  most  important  evidence  is  often  furnished  by  things  the 

1  Oh.  i.  ver.  1,  3. 


298  Evidences  of  Christianity.  [Part  II. 

most  insignificant  in  themselves.  The  impression  of  the  sole 
of  a  Man's  Shoe,  or  a  scrap  of  paper  used  as  Wadding  for  a 
gun,  have  led  to  the  detection  of  crimes.  And  in  reality  it  is 
altogether  in  minute  points  that  the  difference  is  to  be  per- 
ceived between  truth  and  fabrication.  A  false  story  may  easily 
be  made  plausible  in  its  general  outline ;  in  the  great  features 
of  the  transactions  related.  But  in  some  very  minute  parti- 
culars, which  would  escape  notice  except  on  a  very  close  ex- 
amination, there  will  almost  always  be  found  some  inconsisten- 
cies, such  as,  of  course,  could  not  exist  in  a  true  narrative. 

The  difference  in  this  respect,  between  truth  and  fabrication, 
answers  to  that  between  the  productions  of  Nature  and  the 
works  of  Art.  Both  may  appear  equally  perfect  at  a  slight 
glance,  or  even  on  close  inspection  by  the  naked  eye.  But 
apply  a  microscope  to  each,  and  you  will  see  the  difference.  A 
piece  of  delicate  cambric,  under  the  Solar  Microscope,  looks 
like  a  coarse  sail-cloth ;  and  an  artificial  flower,  which  might 
deceive  the  naked  eye  even  of  a  florist,  will  appear  rugged  and 
uneven  ;  while  the  petals  of  a  real  flower,  or  the  wing  of  a  .fly, 
when  thus  examined,  exhibit  such  delicate  and  perfect  and 
beautiful  regularity,  that,  '  even  Solomon  in  all  his  glory  was 
not  arrayed  like  one  of  these.'  And  so  it  is  when  we  apply  the 
Microscope  of  close  and  minute  investigation  to  genuine  com- 
positions and  true  history. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

Of  the  History  of  the  Resurrection. 

Tl  1  E  history  of  the  resurrection  of  Christ  is  a  part  of  the 
evidence  of  Christianity  ;  but  I  do  not  know  whether  the 
proper  strength  of  this  passage  of  the  christian  history,  or 
wherein  its  peculiar  value,  as  a  head  of  evidence,  consists,  be 
generally  understood.  It  is  not  that,  as  a  miracle,  the  resur- 
rection ought  to  be  accounted  a  more  decisive  proof  of  super- 
natural agency  than  other  miracles  are;  it  is  not  that,  as  it 
stands  in  the  Gospel,  it  is  better  attested  than  some  others ;  it 
i-;   not  for  cither  of  these  reasons,  that  more  weight  belongs  to 


Chap,  viii.]         The  History  of 'the  Resurrection.  299 

ir  than  to  other  miracles,  but  for  the  following,  viz.  That  it  is  com- 
pletely certain  that  the  apostles  of  Christ,  and  the  first  teachers 
of  Christianity,  asserted  the  fact.  And  this  would  have  been 
certain,  if  the  four  Gospels  had  been  lost,  or  never  written. 
Every  piece  of  scripture  recognizes  the  resurrection.  Every 
epistle  of  every  apostle,  every  author  contemporary  with  the 
apostles,  of  the  age  immediately  succeeding  the  apostles,  every 
writing  from  that  age  to  the  present,  genuine  or  spurious,  on 
the  side  of  Christianity  or  against  it,  concur  in  representing  the 
resurrection  of  Christ  as  an  article  of  his  history,  received  with- 
out doubt  or  disagreement  by  all  who  call  themselves  Chris- 
tians, as  alleged  from  the  beginning  by  the  propagators  of  the 
institution,  and  alleged  as  the  centre  of  their  testimony.  No- 
thing, I  apprehend,  which  a  man  does  not  himself  see  or 
hear,  can  be  more  certain  to  him  than  this  point.  I  do  not 
mean  that  nothing  can  be  more  certain  than  that  Christ  rose 
from  the  dead ;  but  that  nothing  can  be  more  certain,  than 
that  his  apostles,  and  the  first  teachers  of  Christianity,  gave  out 
that  he  did  so.  In  the  other  parts  of  the  gospel  narrative,  a 
question  may  be  made,  whether  the  things  related  of  Christ  be 
the  very  things  which  the  apostles  and  first  teachers  of  the  re- 
ligion delivered  concerning  him?  And  this  question  depends  a 
good  deal  upon  the  evidence  we  possess  of  the  genuineness,  or 
rather,  perhaps,  of  the  antiquity,  credit,  and  reception  of  the 
books.  Upon  the  subject  of  the  resurrection,  no  such  discussion 
is  necessary,  because  no  such  doubt  can  be  entertained.  The 
only  points,  which  can  enter  into  our  consideration,  are,  whether 
the  apostles  knowingly  published  a  falsehood,  or  whether  they 
were  themselves  deceived  ;  whether  either  of  these  suppositions 
be  possible.  The  first,  I  think,  is  pretty  generally  given  up. 
The  nature  of  the  undertaking,  and  of  the  men  ;  the  extreme 
unlikelihood  that  such  men  should  engage  in  such  a  measure  as 
a  scheme  •  their  personal  toils  and  dangers  and  sufferings  in 
the  cause  ;  their  appropriation  of  their  whole  time  to  the  ob- 
ject ;  the  warm  and  seemingly  unaffected  zeal  and  earnestness 
with  which  they  profess  their  sincerity,  exempt  their  memory 
from  the  suspicion  of  imposture.  The  solution  more  deserving 
of  notice,  is  that  which  would  resolve  the  conduct  of  the 
apostles  into  enthusiasm  •  which  would  class  the  evidence  of 
Christ's  resurrection  with  the  numerous  stories  that  are  extant 


300  Evidences  of  Christianity.  [Part  ]  I. 

of  the  apparitions  of  dead  men.  There  are  circumstances  in 
the  narrative,  as  it  is  preserved  in  our  histories,  which  destroy 
this  comparison  entirely.  It  was  not  one  person  but  many, 
who  saw  him  ;  they  saw  him  not  only  separately,  but  together, 
not  only  by  night  but  by  day,  not  at  a  distance  but  near,  not 
once  but  several  times ;  they  not  only  saw  him,  but  touched 
him,  conversed  with  him,  ate  with  him,  examined  his  person 
to  satisfy  their  doubts.  These  particulars  are  decisive ;  but 
they  stand,  I  do  admit,  upon  the  credit  of  our  records.  I 
would  answer,  therefore,  the  insinuation  of  enthusiasm,  by  a 
circumstance  which  arises  out  of  the  nature  of  the  thing ;  and 
the  reality  of  which  must  be  confessed  by  all  who  allow,  what 
I  believe  is  not  denied,  that  the  resurrection  of  Christ,  whether 
true  or  false,  was  asserted  by  his  disciples  from  the  beginning : 
and  that  circumstance  is,  the  non-production  of  the  dead  body. 
It  is  related  in  the  history,  what  indeed  the  story  of  the  re- 
surrection necessarily  implies,  that  the  corpse  was  missing  out 
of  the  sepulchre  :  it  is  related  also  in  the  history,  that  the 
Jews  reported  that  the  followers  of  Christ  had  stolen  it  aw^ay.1 
And  this  account,  though  loaded  with  great  improbabilities,  such 
as  the  situation  of  the  disciples,  their  fears  for  their  own  saiety 
at  the  time,  the  unlikelihood  of  their  expecting  to  succeed,  the 
difficulty  of  actual  success,2  and  the  inevitable  consequence  of 
detection  and  failure,  was,  nevertheless,  the  most  credible 
account  that  could  be  given  of  the  matter.  But  it  proceeds 
entirely  upon  the  supposition  of  fraud,  as  all  the  old  objections 
did.  What  account  can  be  given  of  the  body,  upon  the  sup- 
position of  enthusiasm  ?  It  is  impossible  our  Lord's  followers 
could  believe  that  he  was  risen  from  the  dead,  if  his  corpse 

'  '  And  this  saying,'  St.  Matthew  writes.  '  is  commonly  reported  amongst  the 
Jews  until  this  day.'  (xxviii.  15.)  The  evangelist  may  be  thought  good  authority 
as  to  this  point,  even  hy  those  who  do  not  admit  his  evidence  in  every  other  point : 
and  this  point  is  sufficient  to  prove  that  the  body  was  missing. 

It  has  also  been  rightly.  I  think,  observed  by  Dr.  Townsend  (Dis.  upon  the  Bes. 
p.  L26),  thai  the  story  of  the  guards  carried  collusion  npon  the  face  of  it  : — '  His 
disciples  came  by  night,  and  stole  him  away  while  we  slept.'  Men  in  their  cir- 
cumstances  would  not  have  made  such  an  acknowledgment  of  their  negligence, 
without  previous  assurances  of  protection  and  impunity. 

2  Especially  at  the  full  moon,  the  city  full  of  people,  many  probably  passing 
the  whole  night,  as  Jesus  and  his  disciples  had  done,  in  the  open  air,  the  sepulchre 
so  near  the  city  as  to  be  now  inclosed  within  the  walls.' — Priestley  on  the  Resur. 
p.  24. 


Chap,  viii.]       The  History  of  the  Resurrection.  301 

was  lying  before  them.  No  enthusiasm  ever  reached  to  such 
a  pitch  of  extravagancy  as  that :  a  spirit  may  be  an  illusion ; 
a  body  is  a  real  thing,  an  object  of  sense,  in  which  there  can 
be  no  mistake.  All  accounts  of  spectres  leave  the  body  in  the 
grave.  And,  although  the  body  of  Christ  might  be  removed 
by  fraud,  and  for  the  purposes  of  fraud,  yet,  without  any  such 
intention,  and  by  sincere  but  deluded  men,  which  is  the  repre- 
sentation of  the  apostolic  character  we  are  now  examining,  no 
such  attempt  could  be  made.  The  presence  and  the  absence 
of  the  dead  body  are  alike  inconsistent  with  the  hypothesis  of 
enthusiasm  :  for,  if  present,  it  must  have  cured  their  enthu- 
siasm at  once ;  if  absent,  fraud,  not  enthusiasm,  must  have 
carried  it  away. 

But  further,  if  we  admit,  upon  the  concurrent  testimony  of 
all  the  histories,  so  much  of  the  account  as   states  that   the 
religion  of  Jesus  was  set  up  at  Jerusalem,  and  set  up  with 
asserting,  in  the  very  place  in  which  he  had  been  buried,  and 
a  few  days  after  he  had  been  buried,  his  resurrection  out  of 
the  grave,  it  is  evident  that,  if  his  body  could  have  been  found, 
the  Jews  would  have  produced  it,  as  the  shortest  and  complet- 
est  answer  possible  to  the  whole  story.     The  attempt  of  the 
apostles  could  not  have  survived  this  refutation  a  moment.     If 
we  also  admit,  upon  the  authority  of  St.  Matthew,  that  the 
Jews  were  advertised  of  the  expectation  of  Christ's  followers, 
and  that  they  had   taken    due   precaution  in  consecpience  of 
this  notice,  and  that  the  body  was  in  marked  and  public  cus- 
tody, the  observation  receives  more  force  still.     For,  notwith- 
standing their  precaution,  and  although  thus  prepared  and  fore- 
warned ;  when  the  story  of  the  resurrection  of  Christ  came 
forth,  as  it  immediately  did ;  when  it  was  publicly  asserted  by 
his  disciples,  and  made  the  ground  and  basis  of  their  preaching 
in  his  name,  and  collecting  followers  to  his  religion,  the  Jews 
had  not  the  body  to  produce :  but  were  obliged  to  meet  the 
testimony  of  the  apostles  by  an  answer,  not  containing  indeed 
any  impossibility  in  itself,  but  absolutely  inconsistent  with  the 
supposition  of  their  integrity ;  that  is,  in  other  words,  incon- 
sistent with  the  supposition  which  would  resolve  their  conduct 
into  enthusiasm. 


302  Evidences  of  Christianity.  [Part  II. 

ANNOTATION. 

iThe  Jews  had  not  the  body  to  produce.'' 

In  that  curious  and  valuable  book,  the  Toldoth  Jeschu, — the 
Jewish  account  of  our  Lord, — it  is  stated  that  the  body  was 
ignominiously  dragged  through  the  streets  of  Jerusalem : — 
that  a  number  of  the  Disciples  dwelling  at  some  distance,  hav- 
ing heard  a  report  of  their  Master's  death,  and  of  his  resurrec- 
tion, sent  some  of  their  number,  as  a  deputation,  to  Jerusalem, 
to  inquire  into  the  facts  : — that  the  Jewish  Rulers  showed  them 
their  Master's  corpse : — and  that  they  thereupon  returned  home 
and  reported  that  He  was  risen  from  the  dead ! 

Now  this  account,  which,  as  it  stands,  is  a  glaring  moral 
impossibility,  is  not  unlikely  to  be  true  excepting  in  one  par- 
ticular— the  exhibition  of  the  real  body  of  Jesus.  It  seems 
highly  probable  that  the  Rulers  showed  them  a  corpse,  assur- 
ing them  that  it  was  their  Master's.  And  if  so,  they,  on  per- 
ceiving that  it  was  not,  would  be  convinced  by  this  (in  con- 
.  junction  with  the  testimonies  they  would  meet  with  at  Jeru- 
salem) that  Jesus  was  risen :  and  they  would  bring  back  this 
assurance  to  their  friends  who  had  sent  them. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

The  Projxtgation  of  Christianity. 

IN  this  argument,  the  first  consideration  is  the  fact ;  in  what 
degree,  within  what  time,  and  to  what  extent,  Christianity 
actually  was  propagated. 

The  accounts  of  the  matter,  which  can  be  collected  from 
our  books,  are  as  follows :  A  few  days  after  Christ's  disap- 
pearance out  of  the  world,  we  find  an  assembly  of  disciples  at 
Jerusalem,  to  the  number  of  'about  one  hundred  and  twenty;'1 
which  hundred  and  twenty  were,  probably,  a  little  association 
of  believers,  met  together,  not  merely  as  believers  in  Christ, 

1  Acts  i.  5. 


Chap,  ix.]         The  Propagation  of  Christianity.  303 

but  as  personally  connected  with  the  apostles,  and  with  one 
another.  Whatever  was  the  number  of  believers  then  in  Jeru- 
salem, we  have  no  reason  to  be  surprised  that  so  small  a 
company  should  assemble ;  for  there  is  no  proof  that  the  fol- 
lowers of  Christ  were  yet  formed  into  a  society,  that  the  society 
was  reduced  into  any  order,  that  it  was  at  this  time  even  under- 
stood that  a  new  religion  (in  the  sense  which  that  term  conveys 
to  us)  was  to  be  set  up  in  the  world,  or  how  the  professors  of 
that  religion  were  to  be  distinguished  from  the  rest  of  mankind. 
The  death  of  Christ  had  left,  we  may  suppose,  the  generality 
of  his  disciples  in  great  doubt,  both  as  to  what  they  were  to 
do,  and  concerning  what  was  to  follow. 

This  meeting  was  held,  as  we  have  already  said,  a  few  days 
after  Christ's  ascension ;  for,  ten  days  after  that  event  was  the 
day  of  Pentecost,  when,  as  our  history  relates,1  upon  a  signal 
display  of  divine  agency  attending  the  persons  of  the  apostles, 
there  were  added  to  the  society  '  about  three  thousand  souls.'2 
But  here,  it  is  not,  I  think,  to  be  taken,  that  these  three 
thousand  were  all  converted  by  this  single  miracle ;  but  rather 
that  many,  who  were  before  believers  in  Christ,  became  now 
professors  of  Christianity :  that  is  to  say,  when  they  found  that 
a  religion  was  to  be  established,  a  society  formed  and  set  up 
in  the  name  of  Christ,  governed  by  his  laws,  avowing  their 
belief  in  his  mission,  united  amongst  themselves,  and  separated 
from  the  rest  of  the  world,  by  visible  distinctions ;  in  pursuance 
of  their  former  conviction,  and  by  virtue  of  what  they  had 
heard  and  seen  and  known  of  Christ's  history,  they  publicly 
became  members  of  it. 

"We  read  in  the  fourth3  chapter  of  the  Acts,  that,  soon  after 
this,  '  the  number  of  the  men,'  i.  e.  of  the  society  openly  pro- 
fessing their  belief  in  Christ,  'was  about  five  thousand.'  So 
that  here  is  an  increase  of  two  thousand  within  a  very  short 
time.  And  it  is  probable  that  there  were  many,  both  now  and 
afterwards,  who,  although  they  believed  in  Christ,  did  not 
think  it  necessary  to  join  themselves  to  this  society;  or  who 
waited  to  see  what  was  likely  to  become  of  it.  Gamaliel, 
whose  advice  to  the  Jewish  council  is  recorded  Acts  iv.  34,  ap- 
pears to  have  been  of  this  description ;  perhaps  Nicodemus, 


1  Acts  ii.  1.  "Acts  ii.  41.  3Verse4. 


304  Evidences  of  Christianity.  Part  II. 

and  perhaps  also  Joseph  of  Arimathea.  This  class  of  men, 
their  character  and  their  rank,  are  likewise  pointed  out  by  St. 
John,  in  the  twelfth  chapter  of  his  gospel:  'Nevertheless 
among  the  chief  rulers  also  many  believed  on  him ;  but  be- 
cause of  the  Pharisees  they  did  not  confess  him,  lest  they 
should  be  put  out  of  the  synagogue:  for  they  loved  the  praise 
of  men  more  than  the  praise  of  God.'  Persons  such  as  these, 
might  admit  the  miracles  of  Christ,  without  being  immediately 
convinced  that  they  were  under  obligation  to  make  a  public 
profession  of  Christianity,  at  the  risk  of  all  that  was  dear  to 
them  in  life,  and  even  of  life  itself.1 

Christianity,  however,  proceeded  to  increase  in  Jerusalem 
by  a  progress  equally  rapid  with  its  first  success ;  for,  in  the 
next 2  chapter  of  our  history,  we  read  that  '  believers  were  the 
mure  added  to  the  Lord,  multitudes  both  of  men  and  women.' 
And  this  enlargement  of  the  new  society  appears  in  the  first 
verse  of  the  succeeding  chapter,  wherein  we  are  told,  that, 
'when  the  number  of  the  disciples  was  multiplied^  there  arose 
a  murmuring  of  the  Grecians  against  the  Hebrews  because 
their  widows  were  neglected;'3  and,  afterwards  in  tlie^same 
chapter,  it  is  declared  expressly,  that  '  the  number  of  ths  dis- 
ciples multiplied  in  Jerusalem  greatly,  and  that  a  great  com- 
pany of  the  priests  were  obedient  to  the  faith.' 

This  I  call  the  first  period  in  the  propagation  of  Christianity. 
It  commences  with  the  ascension  of  Christ;  and  extends,  as 
may  be  collected  from  incidental  notes  of  time,4  to  something 

1  '  Beside  those  who  professed,  and  those  who  rejected  and  opposed  Christianity, 
there  were,  in  all  probability,  multitudes  between  both,  neither  perfect  Christians, 
nor  yet  unbelievers.  They  had  a  favorable  opinion  of  the  gospel,  but  worldly 
considerations  made  them  unwilling  to  own  it  There  were  many  circumstances 
which  inclined  them  to  think  that  Christianity  was  a  divine  revelation,  but  there 
were  many  inconveniences  which  attended  the  open  profession  of  it  ;  and  thev 
could  not  find  in  themselves  courage  enough  to  bear  them,  to  disoblige  their 
fiiends  and  family,  to  ruin  their  fortunes,  to  lose  their  reputation,  their  liberty 
and  their  Life,  fur  the  sake  of  the  new  religion.  Therefore  they  were  willing  to 
hope,  that  if  they  endeavored  to  observe  the  great  principles  of  morality,  which 
Christ  had  represented  as  the  principal  part,  the  sum  and  substance  of  religion; 
if  they  thought  honorably  of  the  gospel,  if  they  offered  no  injury  to  the  Christians, 
if  they  did  them  all  the  services  that  they  could  safely  perform,  they  were  willing 
t<>  hope  that  C4od  would  accept  this,  and  that  he  would  excuse  and  forgive  the 
rest.' — Jortin's  Dis.  on  the  Christ.  Rel.  p.  91,  ed.  4. 

2  Acts  v.  14  aActs  vi.  1. 

*  Vide  Pearson's  Aniiq.  I.  xviii.  c.  7.        Benson's  Hist,  of  Christ,  bk.  i.  p.  148. 


Chap,  ix.]         The  Propagation  of  Christianity.  305 

more  than  one  year  after  that  event ;  during  which  term  the 
preaching  of  Christianity,  so  far  as  our  documents  inform  us, 
was  confined  to  the  single  city  of  Jerusalem.  And  how  did  it 
succeed  there?  The  first  assembly  which  we  meet  with  of 
Christ's  disciples,  and  that  a  few  days  after  his  removal  from 
the  world,  consisted  of  '  one  hundred  and  twenty.'  About  a 
week  after  this  '  three  thousand'  were  added  in  one  clay  ;  and 
the  number  of  Christians,  publicly  baptized,  and  publicly  asso- 
ciating together,  was  very  soon  increased  to  '  five  thousand.' 
'  Multitudes  both  of  men  and  women  continued  to  be  added :' 
'  disciples  multiplied  greatly,'  and  '  many  of  the  Jewish  priest- 
hood, as  well  as  others,  became  obedient  to  the  faith  ;'  and 
this  within  a  space  of  less  than  two  years  from  the  commence- 
ment of  the  institution. 

By  reason  of  a  persecution  raised  against  the  church  at 
Jerusalem,  the  converts  were  driven  from  that  city,  and  dis- 
persed throughout  the  regions  of  Judea  and  Samaria.1  Wherever 
they  came  they  brought  their  religion  with  them ;  for  our 
historian  informs  us,2  that  '  they,  that  were  scattered  abroad, 
went  everywhere  preaching  the  word.'  The  effect  of  this 
preaching  comes  afterwards  to  be  noticed,  where  the  historian 
is  led,  in  the  course  of  his  narrative,  to  observe,  that  then 
[i.  e.  about  three  years 3  posterior  to  this]  '  the  churches  had 
rest  throughout  all  Judea,  and  Galilee  and  Samaria,  and  were 
edified,  and,  walking  in  the  fear  of  the  Lord,  and  in  the  com- 
fort of  the  Holy  Ghost,  were  multiplied.'  This  was  the  work 
of  the  second  period,  which  comprises  about  four  years. 

Hitherto  the  preaching  of  the  gospel  had  been  confined  to 
Jews,  to  Jewish  proselytes,  and  to  Samaritans.  And  I  cannot 
forbear  from  setting  down,  in  this  place,  an  observation  of 
Mr.  Bryant's,  which  appears  to  me  to  be  perfectly  well 
founded  : — 'The  Jews  still  remain,  but  how  seldom  is  it  that 
we  can  make  a  single  proselyte  !  There  is  reason  to  think 
that  there  were  more  converted  by  the  apostles  in  one  day, 
than  have  since  been  won  over  in  the  last  thousand  years.' 4 

It  was  not  yet  known  to  the  apostles,  that  they  were  at 
liberty  to  propose  the   religion  to  mankind  at  large.     That 


1  Acts  viii.  1.  s  Verse  4.  s  Benson,  bk.  i.  p.  207. 

4  Bryant  on  tlie  Truth  of  the  Christian  Religion,  p.  112. 
20 


306  Evidences  of  Christianity.  [Part  I. 

1  mystery,'  as  St.  Paul  calls  it,1  and  as  it  then  was,  was  revealed 
to  Peter  by  an  especial  miracle.  It  appears  to  have  been  2 
about  seven  years  after  Christ's  ascension,  that  the  gospel  was 
preached  to  the  Gentiles  of  Cesarea.  A  year  after  this,  a  great 
multitude  of  Gentiles  were  converted  at  Antioch  in  Syria.  The 
expressions  employed  by  the  historian  are  these — '  A  great 
number  believed,  and  turned  to  the  Lord  ;'  '  much  people  was 
added  unto  the  Lord  ;'  the  apostles  Barnabas  and  Paul  taught 
much  people.3  Upon  Herod's  death,  which  happened  in  the 
next  year,4  it  is  observed  that  '  the  word  of  God  grew  and  mul- 
tiplied.'5 Three  years  from  this  time,  upon  the  preaching  of 
Paul  at  Iconium,  the  metropolis  of  Lycaonia,  '  a  great  multi- 
tude both  of  Jews  and  Greeks  believed;6  and  afterwards,  in 
the  course  of  this  very  progress,  he  is  represented  as  '  making 
many  disciples'  at  Derbe,  a  principal  city  in  the  same  district. 
Three  years7  after  this,  which  brings  us  to  sixteen  after  the 
ascension,  the  apostles  wrote  a  public  letter  from  Jerusalem  to 
the  Gentile  converts  in  Antioch,  Syria,  and  Cilicia,  with  which 
letter  Paul  travelled  through  these  countries,  and  found  the 
churches  established  in  the  faith,  and  increasing  incumber 
daily.'8  From  Asia  the  apostles  proceeded  into  Greece,  where 
soon  after  his  arrival  in  Macedonia,  we  find  him  atThessalonica ; 
in  which  city  '  some  of  the  Jews  believed,  and  of  the  devout 
Greeks  a  great  multitude.'9  We  meet  also  here  with  an  acci- 
dental hint  of  the  general  progress  of  the  christian  mission,  in 
the  exclamation  of  the  tumultuous  Jews  of  Thessalonica,  '  that 
they,  who  had  turned  the  world  upside  down,  were  come 
thither  also.' 10  At  Berea,  the  next  city  at  which  St.  Paul 
arrives,  the  historian,  who  was  present,  informs  us  that  many 
of  the  Jews  believed.' u  The  next  year  and  a  half  of  St.  Paul's 
ministry  was  spent  at  Corinth.  Of  his  success  in  that  city  we 
receive  the  following  intimations:  'that  many  of  the  Corin- 
thians believed  and  were  baptized,'  and  '  that  it  was  revealed  to 
the  apostle  by  Christ,  that  he  had  much  people  in  that  city.'12 
^Vithin  less  than  a  year  after  his  departure  from  Corinth,  and 


1  Eph.  iii.  3-6.  »  Benson,  bk.  ii.  p.  236.  »  Acts  xi.  21,24,  26. 

*  Benson,  bk.  ii.  p.  289.  5  Acts  xii.  24.  «  Ibid.  xiv.  1. 

7  Benson's  Hist.  Christ,  bk.  iii.  p.  50.        8  Acts  xvi.  5.       8  Ibid.  xvii.  4. 

10  Acts  v.  G.  ll  Ibid.  xvii.  12.  "  Ibid,  xviii.  8-10. 


Chap,  ix.]         The  Propagation  of  Christianity.  307 

twenty-five1  years  after  the  ascension,  St.  Paul  fixed  his  station 
at  Ephesus,  for  the  space  of  two  years2  and  something  more. 
The  effect  of  his  ministry  in  that  city  and  neighborhood  drew 
from  the  historian  a  reflection,  how  '  mightily  grew  the  word  of 
God  and  prevailed.'3  And  at  the  conclusion  of  this  period,  we 
find  Demetrius  at  the  head  of  a  party,  who  were  alarmed  by  the 
progress  of  the  religion,  complaining,  that '  not  only  at  Ephesus, 
but  also  throughout  all  Asia  \i.  e.  the  province  of  Lydia,  and 
the  country  adjoining  to  Ephesus],  this  Paul  has  persuaded  and 
turned  away  much  people.'4  Beside  these  accounts,  there 
occurs,  incidentally,  mention  of  converts  at  Rome,  Alexandria, 
Athens,  Cyprus,  Cyrene,  Macedonia,  Philippi. 

This  is  the  third  period  in  the  propagation  of  Christianity, 
setting  off  in  the  seventh  year  after  the  acension,  and  ending 
at  the  twenty-eighth.  Now,  lay  these  three  periods  together, 
and  observe  how  the  progress  of  the  religion  by  these  accounts 
is  represented.  The  institution,  which  properly  began  only 
after  its  author's  removal  from  the  world,  before  the  end  of 
thirty  years  had  spread  itself  through  Judea,  Galilee,  and 
Samaria,  almost  all  the  numerous  districts  of  the  Lesser  Asia, 
through  Greece,  and  the  islands  of  the  iEgean  Sea,  the  sea- 
coast  of  Africa,  and  had  extended  itself  to  Home,  and  into  Italy. 
At  Antioch  in  Syria,  at  Joppa,  Ephesus,  Corinth,  Thessalonica, 
Berea,  Iconium,  Derbe,  Antioch  in  Pisidia,  at  Lydda,  Saron, 
the  number  of  converts  is  intimated  by  the  expressions  '  a 
great  number,'  '  great  multitudes,'  '  much  people.'  Converts 
are  mentioned,  without  any  designation  of  their  number,5  at 
Tyre,  Cesarea,  Troas,  Athens,  Philippi,  Lystra,  Damascus. 
During  all  this  time,  Jerusalem  continued  not  only  the  centre 
of  the  mission,  but  a  principal  seat  of  the  religion  ;  for,  when 
St.  Paul  returned  thither  at  the  conclusion  of  the  period  of 

1  Benson,  bk.  iii.  p.  160.  2  Acts  xix.  10.  3  Ibid.  xix.  20. 

4  Ibid.  ver.  26. 
6  Considering  the  extreme  conciseness  of  many  parts  of  the  history,  the  silence 
about  the  numbers  of  converts  is  no  proof  of  their  paucity  ;  for  at  Philippi  no  men- 
tion whatever  is  made  of  the  number,  yet  St.  Paul  addressed  an  epistle  to  that 
church.  The  churches  of  Galatia,  and  the  affairs  of  those  churches,  were  consider- 
able enough  to  be  the  subject  of  another  letter,  and  of  much  of  St.  Paul's  solicitude  : 
yet  no  account  is  preserved  in  the  history  of  his  success,  or  even  of  his  preaching 
in  that  country,  except  the  slight  notice  which  these  words  convey  : — '  When 
they  had  gone  throughout  Phrygia,  and  the  region  of  Galatia,  they  essayed  to  go 
into  Bithynia.' — Acts  xvi.  6. 


308  Evidences  of  Christianity.  [Part  II. 

which  we  are  now  considering  the  accounts,  the  other  apostles 
pointed  out  to  him,  as  a  reason  for  his  compliance  with  their 
advice,  '  how  many  thousands  [myriads,  ten  thousands]  there 
were  in  that  city  who  believed.' l 

Upon  this  abstract,  and  the  writing  from  which  it  is  drawn, 
the  following  observations  seem  material  to  be  made : 

I.  That  the  account  comes  from  a  person,  who  was  himself 
concerned  in  a  portion  of  what  he  relates,  and  was  contemporary 
with  the  whole  of  it ;  who  visited  Jerusalem,  and  frequented 
the  society  of  those  who  had  acted,  and  were  acting,  the  chief 
parts  in  the  transaction.  I  lay  down  this  point  positively  ;  for 
had  the  ancient  attestations  to  this  valuable  record  been  less 
satisfactory  than  they  are,  the  unaffectedness  and  simplicity 
with  which  the  author  notices  his  presence  upon  certain  occa- 
sions, and  the  entire  absence  of  art  and  design  from  these 
notices,  would  have  been  sufficient  to  persuade  my  mind,  that, 
whoever  he  was,  he  actually  lived  in  the  times,  and  occupied 
the  situation,  in  which  he  represents  himself  to  be.  When  I 
say  '  whoever  he  was,'  I  do  not  mean  to  cast  a  doubt  upon  the 
name  to  which  antiquity  hath  ascribed  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles 
(for  there  is  no  cause,  that  I  am  acquainted  with,  for  question- 
ing it),  but  to  observe,  that,  in  such  a  case  as  this,  the  time 
and  situation  of  the  author  is  of  more  importance  than  his 
name ;  and  that  these  appear  from  the  work  itself,  and  in  the 
most  unsuspicious  form. 

II.  That  tliis  account  is  a  very  incomplete  account  of  the  preach- 
ing and  propagation  of  Christianity  :  I  mean,  that,  if  what  we 
read  in  the  history  be  true,  much  more  than  what  the  history 
contains  must  be  true  also.  For,  although  the  narrative  from 
which  our  information  is  derived  has  been  entitled  the  Acts  of 
the  Apostles,  it  is  in  fact  a  history  of  the  twelve  apostles  only 
during  a  short  time  of  their  continuing  together  at  Jerusalem ; 
and  even  of  this  period  the  account  is  very  concise.  The  work 
afterwards  consists  of  a  few  important  passages  of  Peter's 
ministry,  of  the  speech  and  death  of  Stephen,  of  the  preaching 
of  Philip  the  Deacon  ;  and  the  sequel  of  the  volume,  that  is, 
two-thirds  of  the  whole,  is  taken  up  with  the  conversion,  the 
travels,  the  discourses  and  history  of  the  new  apostle  Paul,  in 

1  Acts  xxi.  20. 


Chap,  ix.]  The  Propagation  of  Christianity.  309 

which  history  also  large  portions  of  time  are  often  passed  over 
with  very  scanty  notice. 

III.  That  the  account,  so  far  as  it  goes,  is  for  this  very 
reason  more  credible.  Had  it  been  the  author's  design  to  have 
displayed  the  early  progress  of  Christianity,  he  would  un- 
doubtedly have  collected,  or,  at  least,  have  set  forth,  accounts  of 
the  preaching  of  the  rest  of  the  apostles,  who  cannot,  without 
extreme  improbability,  be  supposed  to  have  remained  silent  and 
inactive,  or  not  to  have  met  with  a  share  of  that  success  which 
attended  their  colleagues.  To  which  may  be  added,  as  an  ob- 
servation of  the  same  kind, 

IV.  That  the  intimations  of  the  number  of  converts,  and  of 
the  success  of  the  preaching  of  the  apostles,  come  out  for  the 
most  part  incidentally;  are  drawn  from  the  historian  by  the 
occasion ;  such  as  the  murmuring  of  the  Grecian  converts,  the 
rest  from  persecution,  JTerod's  death,  the  sending  of  Barnabas 
to  Antioch,  and  Barnabas  calling  Paul  to  his  assistance,  Paul 
coming  to  a  place  and  iinding  there  disciples,  the  clamor  of 
the  Jews,  the  complaint  of  artificers  interested  in  the  support 
of  the  popular  religion,  the  reason  assigned  to  induce  Paul  to 
give  satisfaction  to  the  Christians  of  Jerusalem.  Had  it  not 
been  for  these  occasions,  it  is  probable  that  no  notice  whatever 
would  have  been  taken  of  the  number  of  converts,  in  several  of 
the  passages  in  which  that  notice  now  appears.  All  this  tends 
to  remove  the  suspicion  of  a  design  to  exaggerate  or  de- 
ceive. 

Parallel  testimonies  with  the  history,  are  the  letters 
which  have  come  down  to  us  of  St.  Paul,  and  of  the  other 
apostles.  Those  of  St.  Paul  are  addressed  to  the  churches  of 
Corinth,  Philippi,  Thessalonica,  the  church  of  Galatia,  and,  if 
the  inscription  be  right,  of  Ephesus,  his  ministry  at  all  which 
places  is  recorded  in  the  history ;  to  the  church  of  Colosse,  or 
rather  to  the  churches  of  Colosse  and  LaodiCea  jointly,  which 
he  had  not  then  visited.  They  recognize  by  reference  the 
churches  of  Judea,  the  churches  of  Asia,  and  '  all  the  churches 
of  the  Gentiles.'1  In  the  epistle2  to  the  Romans,  the  author 
is  led  to  deliver  a  remarkable  declaration  concerning  the  extent 
of  his  preaching,  its  efficacy,  and  the  cause  to  which  he  ascribes 


1  1  Thess.  ii.  14.  '  Rom.  xv.  18,  19. 


310  Evidences  of  Christianity.  [Part  II. 

it,  '  to  make  the  Gentiles  obedient  by  word  and  deed,  through 
mighty  signs  and  wonders,  by  the  power  of  the  Spirit  of 
God  ;  so  that  from  Jerusalem,  and  round  about  unto  Illyricum, 
I  have  fully  preached  the  gospel  of  Christ.'  In  the  epistle  to 
the  Colossians,1  we  find  an  oblique  but  very  strong  signification 
of  the  then  general  state  of  the  christian  mission,  at  least  as  it 
appeared  to  St.  Paul  :  '  If  ye  continue  in  the  faith,  grounded 
and  settled,  and  be  not  moved  away  from  the  hope  of  the 
gospel,  which  ye  have  heard,  and  which  was  preached  to  every 
creature  which  is  under  heaven;''  which  gospel,  he  had  re- 
minded them  near  the  beginning2  of  his  letter,  '  was  present 
with  them  as  it  was  in  all  the  world?  The  expressions  are 
hyperbolical  ;  but  they  are  hyperboles  which  could  only  be  used 
by  a  writer  who  entertained  a  strong  sense  of  the  subject.  The 
first  epistle  of  Peter  accosts  the  Christians  dispersed  throughout 
Pontus,  Galatia,  Cappadocia,  Asia,  and  Bithynia. 


It  comes  next  to  be  considered,  how  far  these  accounts  are 
confirmed,  or  followed  up,  hy  other  evidence. 

Tacitus,  in  delivering  a  relation,  which  has  already  been ^aid 
before  the  reader,  of  the  fire  which  happened  at  Rome  in  the 
tenth  year  of  Nero,  which  coincides  with  the  thirtieth  year 
after  Christ's  ascension,  asserts,  that  the  emperor,  in  order  to 
suppress  the  rumors  of  having  been  himself  the  author  of  the 
mischief,  procured  the  Christians  to  be  accused.  Of  which 
Christians,  thus  brought  into  his  narrative,  the  following  is  so 
much  of  the  historian's  account  as  belongs  to  our  present  pur- 
pose :  '  They  had  their  denomination  from  Christus,  who,  in 
the  reign  of  Tiberius,  was  put  to  death  as  a  criminal  by  the 
procurator  Pontius  Pilate.  This  pernicious  superstition,  though 
checked  for  a  while,  broke  out  again,  and  spread  not  only 
over  Judea,  but  reached  the  city  also.  At  first  they  only  were 
apprehended  who  confessed  themselves  of  that  sect ;  afterwards 
a  vast  multitude  were  discovered  by  them.'  This  testimony  to 
the  early  propagation  of  Christianity  is  extremely  material. 
It  is  from  an  historian  of  great  reputation,  living  near  the 
time  ;  from  a  stranger  and  an  enemy  to  the  religion  :  and  it 

1  Col.  i.  23.  a  Ibid.  i.  6. 


Chap,  ix.]         The  Propagation  of  Christianity.  311 

joins  immediately  with  the  period  through  which  the  scripture 
accounts  extend.  It  establishes  these  points,  that  the  religion 
began  at  Jerusalem,  that  it  spread  throughout  Judea,  that  it 
had  reached  Rome,  and  not  only  so,  but  that  it  had  there  ob- 
tained a  great  number  of  converts.  This  was  about  six  years 
after  the  time  that  St.  Paul  wrote  his  epistle  to  the  Romans, 
and  something  more  than  two  years  after  he  arrived  there  him- 
self. The  converts  to  the  religion  were  then  so  numerous  at 
Rome,  that  of  those  who  were  betrayed  by  the  information  of 
the  persons  first  persecuted,  a  great  multitude  {inultitudo  ingens) 
were  discovered  and  seized. 

It  seems  probable,  that  the  temporary  check  which  Tacitus 
represents  Christianity  to  have  received  (repressa  in  prcesens) 
referred  to  the  persecution  at  Jerusalem,  which  followed  the 
death  of  Stephen  (Acts  viii.) ;  and  which,  by  dispersing  the  con- 
verts, caused  the  institution,  in  some  measure,  to  disappear. 
Its  second  eruption  at  the  same  place,  and  within  a  short  time, 
has  much  in  it  of  the  character  of  truth.  It  was  the  firm- 
ness and  perseverance  of  men  who  knew  what  they  relied 
upon. 

Next  in  order  of  time,  and  perhaps  superior  in  importance, 
is  the  testimony  of  Pliny  the  younger.  Pliny  was  the  Roman 
governor  of  Pontus  and  Bithynia,  two  considerable  districts  in 
the  northern  part  of  Asia  Minor.  The  situation  in  which  he 
found  his  province  led  him  to  apply  to  the  emperor  (Trajan) 
for  his  direction  as  to  the  conduct  he  was  to  hold  towards  the 
Christians.  The  letter  in  which  this  application  is  contained 
was  written  not  quite  eighty  years  after  Christ's  ascension.  The 
president,  in  this  letter,  states  the  measures  he  had  already 
pursued,  and  then  adds,  as  his  reason  for  resorting  to  the  em- 
peror's counsel  and  authority,  the  following  words  : — '  Sus- 
pending all  judicial  proceedings,  I  have  recourse  to  you  for 
advice ;  for  it  has  appeared  to  me  a  matter  highly  deserving 
consideration,  especially  upon  account  of  the  great  number  of 
persons  who  are  in  clanger  of  suffering ;  for  many  of  all  ages, 
and  of  every  rank,  of  both  sexes  likewise,  are  accused,  and  will 
be  accused.  Nor  has  the  contagion  of  this  superstition  seized 
cities  only,  but  the  lesser  towns  also,  and  the  open  country. 
Nevertheless  it  seemed  to  me  that  it  may  be  restrained  and 
corrected.     It  is  certain,  that  the  temples,  which  were  almost 


312  Evidences  of  Christianity.  [Part  II. 

forsaken,  begin  to  be  more  frequented  ;  and  the  sacred  solemni- 
ties, after  a  long  intermission,  are  revived.  Yictims,  likewise, 
are  everywhere  (passim)  bought  up  ;  whereas,  for  some  time, 
there  were  few  to  purchase  them.  Whence  it  is  easy  to  imagine, 
what  numbers  of  men  might  be  reclaimed,  if  pardon  were  grant- 
ed to  those  that  shall  repent.' x 

It  is  obvious  to  observe,  that  the  passage  of  Pliny's  letter, 
here  quoted,  proves,  not  only  that  the  Christians  in  Pontus  and 
Bithynia  were  now  numerous,  but  that  they  had  subsisted 
there  for  some  considerable  time.  '  It  is  certain  [he  says] 
that  the  temples,  which  were  almost  forsaken  [plainly  ascribing 
this  desertion  of  the  popular  worship  to  the  prevalency  of 
Christianity],  begin  to  be  more  frequented;  and  the  sacred 
solemnities,  after  a  long  intermission,  are  revived.'  There  are 
also  two  clauses  in  the  former  part  of  the  letter  which  indicate 
the  same  thing ;  one,  in  which  he  declares  that  he  had  '  never 
been  present  at  any  trials  of  Christians,  and  therefore  knew  not 
what  was  the  usual  subject  of  inquiry  and  punishment,  or  how 
far  either  was  wont  to  be  urged  :  the  second  clause  isv  the  fol- 
lowing :  '  Others  were  named  by  an  informer,  who,  at  first', x, con- 
fessed themselves  Christians,  and  afterwards  denied  it ;  thai  rest 
said,  they  had  been  Christians,  some  three  years  ago,  some 
longer,  and  some  above  twenty  years.'  It  is  also  apparent 
that  Pliny  speaks  of  the  Christians  as  a  description  of  men  well 
known  to  the  person  to  whom  he  writes.  His  first  sentence 
concerning  them  is,  '  I  have  never  been  present  at  the  trials  of 
Christians.'  This  mention  of  the  name  of  Christians,  without 
any  preparatory  explanation,  shows  that  it  was  a  term  familiar 
both  to  the  writer  of  the  letter,  and  the  person  to  whom  it 
was  addressed.  Had  it  not  been  so,  Pliny  would  naturally 
have  begun  his  letter  by  informing  the  emperor,  that  he 
had  met  with  a  certain  set  of  men  in  the  province  called 
Christians. 

Here  then  is  a  very  signal  evidence  of  the  progress  of  the 
christian  religion  in  a  short  space.  It  was  not  fourscore  years 
after  the  crucifixion  of  Jesus  when  Pliny  wrote  this  letter ;  nor 
seventy  years  since  the  apostles  of  Jesus  began  to  mention  his 
name  to  the  Gentile  world.     Bithynia  and  Pontus  were  at  a 


i  C.  Plin.  Trajano  Imp.  lib.  x.  ep.  xcvii. 


Chap,  ix.]         The  Propagation  of  Christianity.  313 

great  distance  from  Judea,  the  centre  from  which  the  religion 
spread ;  yet  in  these  provinces  Christianity  had  long  subsisted, 
and  Christians  were  now  in  such  numbers  as  to  lead  the  Roman 
governor  to  report  to  the  emperor,  that  they  were  found,  not 
only  in  cities,  but  in  villages  and  in  open  countries ;  of  all  ages, 
of  every  rank  and  condition ;  that  they  abounded  so  much  as 
to  have  produced  a  visible  desertion  of  the  temples ;  that  beasts 
brought  to  market  for  victims  had  few  purchasers;  that  the 
sacred  solemnities  were  much  neglected  :  circumstances  noted 
by  Pliny,  for  the  express  purpose  of  showing  to  the  emperor 
the  effect  and  prevalency  of  the  new  institution. 

No  evidence  remains,  by  which  it  can  be  proved  that  the 
Christians  were  more  numerous  in  Pontus  and  Bithynia  than  in 
other  parts  of  the  Roman  empire ;  nor  has  any  reason  been 
offered  to  show  why  they  should  be  so.  Christianity  did  not 
begin  in  these  countries,  nor  near  them.  I  do  not  know, 
therefore,  that  we  ought  to  confine  the  description  in  Pliny's 
letter  to  the  state  of  Christianity  in  those  provinces,  even  if 
no  other  account  of  the  same  subject  had  come  down  to  us ; 
but,  certainly,  this  letter  may  fairly  be  applied  in  aid  and  con- 
firmation of  the  representations  given  of  the  general  state  of 
Christianity  in  the  world,  by  christian  writers  of  that  and  the 
next  succeeding  age. 

Justin  Martyr,  who  wrote  about  thirty  years  after  Pliny, 
and  one  hundred  and  six  after  the  ascension,  has  these  remark- 
able words :  '  There  is  not  a  nation,  either  of  Greek  or  Bar- 
barian, or  of  any  other  name,  even  of  those  who  wander  in 
tribes,  and  live  in  tents,  amongst  whom  prayers  and  thanks- 
givings are  not  offered  to  the  Father  and  Creator  of  the  uni- 
verse by  the  name  of  the  crucified  Jesus.' l  Tertullian,  who 
comes  about  fifty  years  after  Justin,  appeals  to  the  governors  of 
the  Roman  empire  in  these  terms:  '  We  were  but  of  yesterday, 
and  we  have  filled  your  cities,  islands,  towns  and  boroughs,  the 
camp,  the  senate,  and  the  forum.  They  [the  heathen  adversa- 
ries of  Christianity]  lament,  that  every  sex,  age  and  condition, 
and  persons  of  every  rank  also,  are  converts  to  that  name.' 2  I 
do  allow  that  these  expressions  are  loose,  and  may  be  called 
declamatory.     But  even   declamation    hath   its   bounds :    this 


1  Dial,  cum  Tryph.  a  Tertull.  Apol.  c    3". 


314  Evidences  of  Christianity.  [Part  II. 

public  boasting  upon  a  subject  which  must  be  known  to  every 
reader  was  not  only  useless  but  unnatural,  unless  the  truth  of 
the  case,  in  a  considerable  degree,  corresponded  with  the  de- 
scription ;  at  least,  unless  it  had  been  both  true  and  notorious, 
that  great  multitudes  of  Christians,  of  all  ranks  and  orders, 
were  to  be  found  in  most  parts  of  the  Roman  empire.  The 
same  Tertullian,  in  another  passage,  by  way  of  setting  forth  the 
extensive  diffusion  of  Christianity,  enumerates  as  belonging  to 
Christ,  beside  many  other  countries,  the  '  Moors  and  Gaetulians 
of  Africa,  the  borders  of  Spain,  several  nations  of  France,  and 
parts  of  Britain  inaccessible  to  the  Romans,  the  Sarmatians, 
Daci,  Germans,  and  Scythians;'1  and,  which  is  more  material 
than  the  extent  of  the  institution,  the  number  of  Christians  in 
the  several  countries  in  which  it  prevailed,  is  thus  expressed  by 
him  :  'Although  so  great  a  multitude  that  in  almost  every  city 
we  form  the  greater  part,  we  pass  our  time  modestly  and  in 
silence.'2  Clement  Alexandrinus,  who  preceded  Tertullian  by 
a  few  years,  introduces  a  comparison  between  the  success  of 
Christianity,  and  that  of  the  most  celebrated  philosophical  in- 
stitutions. '  The  philosophers  were  confined  to  Greece,  and  to 
their  particular  retainers ;  but  the  doctrine  of  the  Masted"  of 
Christianity  did  not  remain  in  Judea,  as  philosophy  dicl  in 
Greece,  but  is  spread  throughout  the  whole  world,  in  every 
nation  and  village  and  city,  both  of  Greeks  and  Barbarians, 
converting  both  whole  houses  and  separate  individuals,  having 
already  brought  over  to  the  truth  not  a  few  of  the  philosophers 
themselves.  If  the  Greek  philosophy  be  prohibited,  it  imme- 
diately vanishes  ;  whereas,  from  the  first  preaching  of  our  doc- 
trine, kings  and  tyrants,  governors  and  presidents,  with  their 
whole  train,  and  with  the  populace  on  their  side,  have  endea- 
vored with  their  whole  might  to  exterminate  it,  yet  doth  it 
flourish  more  and  more.'3  Origen,  who  follows  Tertullian  at 
the  distance  of  only  thirty  years,  delivers  nearly  the  same  ac- 
count: 'In  every  part  of  the  world  [says  he],  throughout  all 
Greece,  and  in  all  other  nations,  there  are  innumerable  and 
immense  multitudes,  who,  having  loft  the  laws  of  their  country, 
and  those  whom  they  esteemed  gods,  have  given  themselves  up 
to  the  law  of  Moses,  and  the  religion  of  Christ ;  and  this,  not 


'  AdJud  c.  7.  *  Ad  Scap.  c.  Ill  »  Clem.  Al.  Strom,  lib.  vi.  ad  fin. 


Chap,  ix.]         The  Propagation  of  Christianity.  315 

without  the  bitterest  resentment  from  the  idolaters,  by  whom 
they  were  frequently  put  to  torture,  and  sometimes  to  death  ; 
and  it  is  wonderful  to  observe,  how,  in  so  short  a  time,  the 
religion  has  increased,  amidst  punishment  and  death,  and  every 
kind  of  torture.' l  In  another  passage,  Origen  draws  the  fol- 
lowing candid  comparison  between  the  state  of  Christianity  in 
his  time,  and  the  condition  of  its  more  primitive  ages : — '  By 
the  good  providence  of  God  the  christian  religion  has  so 
flourished  and  increased  continually,  that  it  is  now  preached 
freely  without  molestation,  although  there  were  a  thousand 
obstacles  to  the  spreading  of  the  doctrine  of  Jesus  in  the 
world.  But  as  it  was  the  will  of  God  that  the  Gentiles  should 
have  the  benefit  of  it,  all  the  councils  of  men  against  the 
Christians  were  defeated  ;  and  by  how  much  the  more  emperors 
and  governors  of  provinces,  and  the  people  everywhere,  strove 
to  depress  them,  so  much  the  more  have  they  increased  and 
prevailed  exceedingly.' 2 

It  is  well  known,  that  within  less  than  eighty  years  after  this, 
the  Roman  empire  became  christian  under  Constantine ;  and 
it  is  probable  that  Constantine  declared  himself  on  the  side  of 
the  Christians,  because  they  were  the  powerful  party  :  for  Ar- 
nobius,  who  wrote  immediately  before  Constantine's  accession, 
speaks  of  the  whole  world  as  filled  with  Christ's  doctrine,  of  its 
diffusion  throughout  all  countries,  of  an  innumerable  body  of 
Christians  in  distant  provinces,  of  the  strange  revolution  of 
opinion  of  men  of  the  greatest  genius,  orators,  grammarians, 
rhetoricians,  lawyers,  physicians,  having  come  over  to  the  insti- 
tution, and  that  also  in  the  face  of  threats,  executions,  and 
tortures.3  And  not  more  than  twenty  years  after  Constan- 
tine's entire  possession  of  the  empire,  Julius  Fermicus  Maternus 
calls  upon  the  emperors  Constantius  and  Constans  to  extirpate 
the  relics  of  the  ancient  religion;  the  reduced  and  fallen  con- 
dition of  which  is  described  by  our  author  in  the  following 
words  : — '  Licet  adhuc  in  quibusdam  regionibus  idololatriae 
morientia  palpitent  membra,  tamen  in  eo  res  est,  ut  a  Christi- 
anis  omnibus  terris  pestiferum  hoc  malum  funclitus  amputetur;' 
and  in  another  place,  '  Modicum  tan  turn  superest,  ut  legibus 


1  Or.  in  Celt,  lib.  i.  2  Or.  con.  Cels.  lib.  vii. 

3  Arnob.  in  Gentes,  1.  i.  pp.  27,  9,  24,  42.  44,  edit.  Lug.  Bat.  1650. 


316  Evidences  of  Christianity.  [Part  II. 

vestris — extincta  idololatrise  pereat  funesta  contagio.' 1  It  will 
not  be  thought  that  we  quote  this  writer  in  order  to  recom- 
mend his  temper  or  his  judgment,  but  to  show  the  comparative 
state  of  Christianity  and  of  Heathenism  at  this  period.  Fifty 
years  afterwards,  Jerome  represents  the  decline  of  Paganism  in 
language  which  conveys  the  same  idea  of  its  approaching  ex- 
tinction :  '  Solitudinem  patitur  et  in  urbe  gentilitas.  Dii 
quondam  nationum,  cum  bubonibus  et  noctuis,  in  solis  culmi- 
nibus  remanserunt.' 2  Jerome  here  indulges  a  triumph,  natural 
and  allowable  in  a  zealous  friend  of  the  cause,  but  which  could 
only  be  suggested  to  his  mind  by  the  consent  and  universality 
with  which  he  saw  the  religion  received.  '  But  now  [says  he] 
the  passion  and  resurrection  of  Christ  are  celebrated  in  the 
discourses  and  writings  of  all  nations.  I  need  .not  mention 
Jews,  Greeks,  and  Latins.  The  Indians,  Persians,  Goths,  and 
Egyptians,  philosophize,  and  firmly  believe  the  immortality  of 
the  soul,  and  future  recompenses,  which,  before,  the  greatest 
philosophers  had  denied,  or  doubted  of,  or  perplexed  with  their 
disputes.  The  fierceness  of  Thracians  and  Scythians  is  now 
softened  by  the  gentle  sound  of  the  Gospel  ;  and  everywhere 
Christ  is  all  in  all.'3  "Were,  therefore,  the  motives  of  £on- 
stantine's  conversion  ever  so  problematical,  the  easy  establish- 
ment of  Christianity,  and  the  ruin  of  Heathenism  under  him 
and  his  immediate  successors,  is  of  itself  a  proof  of  the  progress 
which  Christianity  had  made  in  the  preceding  period.  It  may 
be  added,  also,  'that  Maxentius,  the  rival  of  Constantine,  had 
shown  himself  friendly  to  the  Christians.  Therefore,  of  those 
who  were  contending  for  worldly  power  and  empire,  one  actu- 
ally favored  and  flattered  them,  and  another  may  be  suspected 
to  have  joined  himself  to  them,  partly  from  consideration  of 
interest:  so  considerable  were  they  become,  under  external 
disadvantages  of  all  sorts.' 1  This  at  least  is  certain,  that, 
throughout  the  whole  transaction  hitherto,  the  great  seemed  to 
follow,  not  to  lead,  the  public  opinion. 

It  may  help  to  convey  to  us  some  notion  of  the  extent  and 
progress  of  Christianity,  or  rather  of  the  character  and  quality 


1  De  Error.  Pro/an.  Iidig.  c.  xxi.  p.  17-,  quoted  by  Lardner,  vol.  viii.  p.  262. 

a  Jer.  ad  Lec.t.  ep.  -u  .  3  Jor.  ep.  8,  ad  Hcliod. 

*  Lardner,  vol.  vii.  p.  380. 


Chap,  ix.]         The  Propagation  of  Christianity.  317 

of  many  early  Christians,  of  their  learning  and  their  labors,  to 
notice  the  number  of  christian  writers  who  flourished  in  these 
ages.  St.  Jerome's  catalogue  contains  sixty-six  writers  within 
the  three  first  centuries,  and  the  six  first  years  of  the  fourth  ; 
and  fifty-four  between  that  time  and  his  own,  viz.  a.  d.  392. 
Jerome  introduces  his  catalogue  with  the  following  just  remon- 
strance : — '  Let  those  who  say  the  church  has  had  no  philo- 
sophers, nor  eloquent  and  learned  men,  observe  who  and  what 
they  were  who  founded,  established,  and  adorned  it ;  let  them 
cease  to  accuse  our  faith  of  rusticity,  and  confess  their  mistake.'1 
Of  these  writers,  several,  as  Justin,  Irenaeus,  Clement  of  Alex- 
andria, Tertullian,  Origen,  Bardesanes,  Hippolitus,  Eusebius, 
were  voluminous  writers.  Christian  writers  abounded  particu- 
larly about  the  year  178.  Alexander,  bishop  of  Jerusalem, 
founded  a  library  in  that  city  a.  d.  212.  Pamphilus,  the  friend 
of  Origen,  founded  a  library  at  Cesarea  a.  d.  294.  Public  de- 
fences were  also  set  forth,  by  various  advocates  of  the  religion, 
in  the  course  of  its  three  first  centuries.  Within  one  hundred 
years  after  Christ's  ascension,  Quadratus  and  Aristides,  whose 
works,  except  some  few  fragments  of  the  first,  are  lost ;  and 
about  twenty  years  afterwards,  Justin  Martyr,  whose  works  re- 
main, presented  apologies  for  the  christian  religion  to  the 
Roman  emperors  ;  Quadratus  and  Aristides  to  Adrian,  Justin 
to  Antoninus  Pius,  and  a  second  to  Marcus  Antoninus.  Melito 
bishop  of  Sardis,  and  Apollinaris  bishop  of  Hierapolis,  and  Mil- 
tiades,  men  of  great  reputation,  did  the  same  to  Marcus  Anto- 
ninus twenty  years  afterwards:2  and  ten  years  after  this,  Apol- 
lonias,  who  suffered  martyrdom  under  the  emperor  Commodus, 
composed  an  apology  for  his  faith,  which  he  read  in  the  senate, 
and  which  was  afterwards  published.3  Fourteen  years  after  the 
apology  of  Apollonius,  Tertullian  addressed  the  work  which  now 
remains  under  that  name,  to  the  governors  of  provinces  in  the 
Roman  empire ;  and,  about  the  same  time,  Minucius  Felix  com- 
posed a  defence  of  the  christian  religion,  which  is  still  extant ; 
and  shortly  after  the  conclusion  of  this  century,  copious  defences 
of  Christianity  were  published  by  Arnobius  and  Lactantius. 


1  Jer.  Prol.  in  Lib.  de  Ser.  Ecc. 

s  Euseb.  Hist.  lib.  iv.  c.  26.     See  also  Lardner,  vol.  ii.  p.  666. 

3  Lard,  vol   ii.  p.  687. 


318  Evidences  of  Christianity.  jTPart  II 

Section  II. 

Reflections  upon  the  preceding  Account. 

In  viewing  the  progress  of  Christianity,  our  first  attention  is 
due  to  the  number  of  converts  at  Jerusalem,  immediately  after 
its  founder's  death ;  because  this  success  was  a  success  at  the 
time,  and  upon  the  spot,  when  and  where  the  chief  part  of  the 
history  had  been  transacted. 

"We  are,  in  the  next  place,  called  upon  to  attend  to  the  early 
establishment  of  numerous  christian  societies  in  Judea  and 
Galilee,  which  countries  had  been  the  scene  of  Christ's  miracles 
and  ministry,  and  where  the  memory  of  what  had  passed,  and 
the  knowledge  of  what  was  alleged,  must  have  yet  been  fresh 
and  certain. 

We  are,  thirdly,  invited  to  recollect  the  success  of  the  apostles 
and  of  their  companions,  at  the  several  places  to  which  they 
came,  both  within  and  without  Judea  ;  because  it  was  the  credit 
given  to  original  witnesses,  appealing  for  the  truth  of  their  ac- 
counts to  what  themselves  had  seen  and  heard.  The  effect 
also  of  their  preaching  strongly  confirms  the  truth  of  whatSmr 
history  positively  and  circumstantially  relates,  that  they  were 
able  to  exhibit  to  their  hearers  supernatural  attestations  of  their 
mission. 

"We  are,  lastly,  to  consider  the  subsequent  growth  and  spread 
of  the  religion,  of  which  we  receive  successive  intimations,  and 
satisfactory,  though  general  and  occasional,  accounts  until  its 
full  and  final  establishment. 

In  all  these  several  stages,  the  history  is  without  a  parallel ; 
for  it  must  be  observed,  that  we  have  not  now  been  tracing  the 
progress,  and  describing  the  prevalency,  of  an  opinion,  founded 
upon  philosophical  or  critical  arguments,  upon  mere  deductions 
of  reason,  or  the  construction  of  ancient  writings  (of  which 
kind  are  the  several  theories  which  have,  at  different  times, 
gained  possession  of  the  public  mind  in  various  departments  of 
science  and  literature  ;  and  of  one  or  other  of  which  kind  are 
the  tenets  also  which  divide  the  various  sects  of  Christianity) ; 
but  that  we  speak  of  a  system,  the  very  basis  and  postulatnm 
of  which  was  a  supernatural  character  ascribed  to  a  particular 


Ch.  ix.  §  2.]     Reflections  on  the  preceding  Account.  319 

person ;  of  a  doctrine,  the  truth  whereof  depended  entirely 
upon  the  truth  of  a  matter  of  fact  then  recent.  '  To  establish 
a  new  religion  even  amongst  a  few  people,  or  in  one  single 
nation,  is  a  thing  in  itself  exceedingly  difficult.  To  reform  some 
corruptions  which  may  have  spread  in  a  religion,  or  to  make 
new  regulations  in  it,  is  not  perhaps  so  hard,  when  the  main 
and  principal  part  of  that  religion  is  preserved  entire  and  un- 
shaken ;  and  yet  this  very  often  cannot  be  accomplished,  with- 
out an  extraordinary  concurrence  of  circumstances,  and  may  be 
attempted  a  thousand  times  without  success.  But  to  introduce 
a  new  faith,  a  new  way  of  thinking  and  acting,  and  to  per- 
suade many  nations  to  quit  the  religion  in  which  their  ances- 
tors had  lived  and  died,  which  had  been  delivered  down  to 
them  from  time  immemorial,  to  make  them  forsake  and  despise 
the  deities  which  they  had  been  accustomed  to  reverence  and 
worship  ;  this  is  a  work  of  still  greater  difficulty.1  The  resist- 
ance of  education,  worldly  policy,  and  superstition,  is  almost 
invincible.' 

If  men,  in  these  days,  be  Christians  in  consequence  of  their 
education,  in  submission  to  authority,  or  in  compliance  with 
fashion,  let  us  recollect  that  the  very  contrary  of  this,  at  the 
beginning,  was  the  case.  The  first  race  of  Christians,  as  well 
as  millions  who  succeeded  them,  became  such  in  formal  oppo- 
sition to  all  these  motives ;  to  the  whole  power  and  strength  of 
this  influence.  Every  argument  therefore,  and  every  instance, 
which  sets  forth  the  prejudice  of  education,  and  the  almost 
irresistible  effects  of  that  prejudice  (and  no  persons  are  more 
fond  of  expatiating  upon  this  subject  than  deistical  writers),  in 
fact  confirms  the  evidence  of  Christianity. 

But,  in  order  to  judge  of  the  argument  which  is  drawn  from 
the  early  propagation  of  Christianity,  I  know  no  fairer  way  of 
proceeding,  than  to  compare  what  we  have  seen  of  the  subject, 
with  the  success  of  christian  missions  in  modern  ages.  In  the 
East  India  mission,  supported  by  the  Society  for  Promoting 
Christian  Knowledge,  we  hear  sometimes  of  thirty,  sometimes 
of  forty,  being  baptized  in  the  course  of  a  year,  and  these 
principally  children.  Of  converts  properly  so  called,  that  is, 
of  adults  voluntarily  embracing  Christianity,  the  number  is 

1  Jortin's  Dis.  cm  the  Christ.  Rel.  p.  107,  ed.  iv. 


320  Evidences  of  Christianity.  [Part  2. 

extremely  small.  '  Notwithstanding  the  labor  of  missionaries 
for  upwards  of  two  hundred  years,  and  the  establishments  of 
different  christian  nations  who  support  them,  there  are  not 
twelve  thousand  Indian  Christians,  and  those  almost  entirely 
outcasts.' l 

I  lament,  as  much  as  any  man,  the  little  progress  which 
Christianity  has  made  in  these  countries,  and  the  inconsiderable 
effect  that  has  followed  the  labors  of  its  missionaries ;  but  I 
see  in  it  a  strong  proof  of  the  divine  origin  of  the  religion. 
What  had  the  apostles  to  assist  them  in  propagating  Christianity, 
which  the  missionaries  have  not?  If  piety  and  zeal  had  been 
sufficient,  I  doubt  not  but  that  our  missionaries  possess  these 
qualities  in  a  high  degree ;  for  nothing  except  piety  and  zeal 
could  engage  them  in  the  undertaking.  If  sanctity  of  life  and 
manners  was  the  allurement,  the  conduct  of  these  men  is  un- 
blamable. If  the  advantage  of  education  and  learning  be 
looked  to,  there  is  not  one  of  the  modern  missionaries,  who  is 
not,  in  this  respect,  superior  to  all  the  apostles ;  and  that  not 
only  absolutely,  but  what  is  of  more  importance,  relatively,  in 
comparison,  that  is,  with  those  amongst  whom  they- exercise 
their  office.  If  the  intrinsic  excellency  of  the  religiom  the 
perfection  of  its  morality,  the  purity  of  its  precepts,  the^  elo- 
quence or  tenderness  or  sublimity  of  various  parts  of  its  writings, 
were  the  recommendations  by  which  it  made  its  way,  these 
remain  the  same.  If  the  character  and  circumstances,  under 
which  the  preachers  were  introduced  to  the  countries  in  which 
they  taught,  be  accounted  of  importance,  this  advantage  is  all 
on  the  side  of  the  modern  missionaries.  They  come  from  a 
country  and  a  people,  to  which  the  Indian  would  look  up  with 
sentiments  of  deference.  The  apostles  came  forth  amongst  the 
Gentiles  under  no  other  name  than  that  of  Jews,  which  was  pre- 
cisely the  character  they  despised  and  derided.  If  it  be  dis- 
graceful in  India  to  become  a  Christian,  it  could  not  be  much 
less  so  to  be  enrolled  amongst  those  '  quos  per  flagitia  invisios, 
vulgus  Christianos  appellabat.'  If  the  religion  which  they  had 
to  encounter  be  considered,  the  difference,  I  apprehend,  will  not 
be  great.     The  theology  of  both  was  nearly  the  same :  '  what 


1  Sketches  relating  to  the  History,  Learning,  and  Manners  of  the  Hindoos,  p.  48,  quoted 
by  Dr.  Robertson,  Hist.  Dis.  concerning  Ancient  India,  p.  236. 


Cb.  ix.  §  2.]      Reflections  on  the  preceding  Account.  321 

is  supposed  to  be  performed  by  the  power  of  Jupiter,  of  Nep- 
tune, of  .ZEolus,  of  Mars,  of  Yenus,  according  to  the  mythology 
of  the  West,  is  ascribed  in  the  East,  to  the  agency  of  Agrio 
the  god  of  fire,  Yaroon  the  god  of  oceans,  Yayoo  the  god  of 
wind,  Cama  the  god  of  love.' 1  The  sacred  rites  of  the  Western 
Polytheism  were  gay,  festive,  and  licentious ;  the  rites  of  the 
public  religion  in  the  East  partake  of  the  same  character,  with 
a  more  avowed  indecency.  '  In  every  function  performed  in 
the  pagodas,  as  well  as  in  every  public  procession,  it  is  the 
office  of  these  women  [*.  e.  of  women  prepared  by  the  Brahmins 
for  the  purpose]  to  dance  before  the  idol,  and  to  sing  hymns 
in  his  praise ;  and  it  is  difficult  to  say  whether  they  trespass 
most  against  decency  by  the  gestures  they  exhibit,  or  by  the 
verses  which  they  recite.  The  walls  of  the  pagodas  were  cov- 
ered with  paintings  in  a  style  no  less  indelicate.' 2 

On  both  sides  of  the  comparison  the  popular  religion  had  a 
strong  establishment.  In  ancient  Greece  and  Rome  it  was 
strictly  incorporated  with  the  state.  The  magistrate  was  the 
priest.  The  highest  officers  of  government  bore  the  most  dis- 
tinguished part  in  the  celebration  of  the  public  rites.  In  India, 
a  powerful  and  numerous  caste  possess  exclusively  the  adminis- 
tration of  the  established  worship ;  and  are,  of  consequence, 
devoted  to  its  service,  and  attached  to  its  interest.  In  both, 
the  prevailing  mythology  was  destitute  of  any  proper  evidence ; 
or  rather,  in  both,  the  origin  of  the  tradition  is  run  up  into 
ages  long  anterior  to  the  existence  of  credible  history,  or  of 
written  language.  The  Indian  chronology  computes  eras  by 
millions  of  years,  and  the  life  of  man  by  thousands;3  and  in 
these,  or  prior  to  these,  is  placed  the  history  of  their  divinities. 
In  both,  the  established  superstition  held  the  same  place  in  the 
public  opinion ;  that  is  to  say,  in  both  it  was  credited  by  the 
bulk  of  the  people,4  but  by  the  learned  and  philosophic  part  of 

1  Baghvat  Geeta,  p.  94,  quoted  by  Dr.  Robertson,  Ind.  Dis.  p.  306. 

2  Otbers  of  the  deities  of  the  East  are  of  an  austere  and  gloomy  character,  to  be 
propitiated  by  victims,  sometimes  by  human  sacrifices,  and  by  voluntary  torments 
of  the  most  excruciating  kind. —  Voyage  de  Gentil.,  vol.  i.  pp.  244-260.  Preface 
to  Code  of  Gentoo  Lmvs,  p.  57,  quoted  by  Dr.  Robertson,  p.  320. 

a  '  The  Suffec  Jogue,  or  Age  of  Purity,  is  said  to  have  lasted  three  million  two 
hundred  thousand  years,  and  they  hold  that  the  life  of  man  was  extended  in  that 
age  to  one  hundred  thousand  years  ;  but  there  is  a  difference  amongst  the  Indian 
writers  of  six  millions  of  years  in  the  computation  of  this  era.' — Ind.  Dis.  p.  320. 

4  How  absurd  soever  the  articles  of  faith  may  be  which  superstition  has  adopted, 

21 


322  Evidences  of  Christianity.  [Part  II. 

the  community,  either  derided,  or  regarded  by  them  as  only  fit 
to  be  upholden  for  the  sake  of  its  political  uses.1 

Or  if  it  should  be  allowed,  that  the  ancient  heathens  believed 
in  their  religion  less  generally  than  the  present  Indians  do,  I 
am  far  from  thinking  that  this  circumstance  would  afford  any 
facility  to  the  work  of  the  apostles,  above  that  of  the  modern 
missionaries.  To  me  it  appears,  and  I  think  it  material  to  be 
remarked,  that  a  disbelief  of  the  established  religion  of  their 
country  has  no  tendency  to  dispose  men  for  the  reception  of 
another  ;  but  that,  on  the  contrary,  it  generates  a  settled  con- 
tempt of  all  religious  pretensions  whatever.  General  infidelity 
is  the  hardest  soil  which  the  propagators  of  a  new  religion  can 
have  to  work  upon.  Could  a  Methodist  or  Moravian  promise 
himself  a  better  chance  of  success  with  a  French  esprit  fort, 
who  had  been  accustomed  to  laugh  at  the  Popery  of  his  country, 
than  with  a  believing  Mahometan  or  Hindoo  ?  Or  are  our 
modern  unbelievers  in  Christianity,  for  that  reason,  in  danger 
of  becoming  Mahometans  or  Hindoos?  It  does  not  appear 
that  the  Jews,  who  had  a  body  of  historical  evidence  to  offer 
for  their  religion,  and  who  at  that  time  undoubtedly  entertained 
and  held  forth  the  expectation  of  a  future  state,  derived  any 
great  advantage,  as  to  the  extension  of  their  system,  from  the 


or  how  unhallowed  the  rites  which  it  prescribes,  the  former  are  received,  in  every 
age  and  country,  with  unhesitating  assent,  by  the  great  body  of  the  people,  and 
the  latter  observed  with  scrupulous  exactness.  In  our  reasonings  concerning 
opinions  and  practices  which  differ  widely  from  our  own,  we  are  extremely  apt  to 
err.  Having  been  instructed  ourselves  in  the  principles  of  a  religion  worthy  in 
every  respect  of  that  divine  wisdom  by  which  they  were  dictated,  we  frequently 
express  wonder  at  the  credulity  of  nations,  in  embracing  systems  of  belief  which 
appear  to  us  so  directly  repugnant  to  right  reason  ;  and  sometimes  suspect,  that 
tenets  so  wild  and  extravagant  do  not  really  gain  credit  with  them.  But  expe- 
rience may  satisfy  us  that  neither  our  wonder  nor  suspicions  are  well  founded.  No 
article  of  the  public  religion  was  called  in  question  by  those  people  of  ancient 
Europe  with  whose  history  we  are  best  acquainted  ;  and  no  practice,  which  it  en- 
joined, appeared  improper  to  them.  On  the  other  hand,  every  opinion  that  tended 
to  diminish  the  reverence  of  men  for  the  gods  of  their  country,  or  to  alienate  them 
from  their  worship,  excited,  among  the  Greeks  and  Romans,  that  indignant  zeal 
which  is  natural  to  every  people  attached  to  their  religion  by  a  firm  persuasion 
of  its  truth.*— Tnd.  Dis.  p.  321 

i  That  the  learned  Brahmins  of  the  East  are  rational  theists,  and  secretly  reject 
the  established  theory,  and  contemn  the  rites  that  were  founded  upon  them,  or 
rather  consider  them  as  contrivances  to  be  supported  for  their  political  uses,  see 
Dr.  Robertson's  Tnd.  Die.  pp.  824-834 


Ch.  ix.  §2.]    M ^flections  on  the  preceding  Account.  323 

discredit  into  which  the  popular  religion  had  fallen  with  many 
of  their  heathen  neighbors. 

We  have  particularly  directed  our  observations  to  the  state 
and  progress  of  Christianity  amongst  the  inhabitants  of  India, 
but  the  history  of  the  christian  mission  in  other  countries, 
where  the  efficacy  of  the  mission  is  left  solely  to  the  conviction 
wrought  by  the  preaching  of  strangers,  presents  the  same  idea, 
as  the  Indian  mission  does,  of  the  feebleness  and  inadequacy  of 
human  means.  About  twenty-five  years  ago,  was  published  in 
England,  a  translation  from  the  Dutch  of  a  history  of  Green- 
land, and  a  relation  of  the  mission,  for  above  thirty  years  carried 
on  in  that  country  by  the  Unitas  Fratrum,  or  Moravians. 
Every  part  of  that  relation  confirms  the  opinion  we  have  stated. 
Nothing  could  surpass,  or  hardly  equal,  the  zeal  and  patience 
of  the  missionaries.  Yet  their  historian,  in  the  conclusion  of 
his  narrative,  could  find  place  for  no  reflections  more  encourag- 
ing than  the  following : — '  A  person  that  had  known  the  heathen, 
that  had  seen  the  little  benefit  from  the  great  pains  hitherto 
taken  with  them,  and  considered  that  one  after  another  had 
abandoned  all  hopes  of  the  conversion  of  those  infidels  (and 
some  thought  they  would  never  be  converted,  till  they  saw 
miracles  wrought  as  in  the  apostles'  days,  and  this  the  Green- 
landers  expected  and  demanded  of  their  instructors) :  one  that 
considered  this,  I  say,  would  not  so  much  wonder  at  the  past 
unfruitfulness  of  these  young  beginners,  as  at  their  steadfast 
perseverance  in  the  midst  of  nothing  but  distress,  difficulties, 
and  impediments,  internally  and  externally ;  and  that  they  never 
desponded  of  the  conversion  of  those  poor  creatures  amidst  all 
seeming  impossibilities.' * 

From  the  widely  disproportionate  effects  which  attend  the 
preaching  of  modern  missionaries  of  Christianity,  compared 
with  what  followed  the  ministry  of  Christ  and  his  apostles, 
under  circumstances  either  alike,  or  not  so  unlike  as  to  account 
for  the  difference,  a  conclusion  is  fairly  drawn,  in  support  of 
what  our  histories  deliver  concerning  them,  viz.,  that  they  pos- 
sessed means  of  conviction,  which  we  have  not ;  that  they  had 
proofs  to  appeal  to,  which  we  want. 


Hist,  of  Greenland,  vol.  ii.  p.  376. 


324  Evidences  of  Christianity.  [Part  II. 

Section  III. 

Of  the  Religion  of  Mahomet. 

The  only  event  in  the  history  of  the  human  species,  which  ad- 
mits of  comparison  with  the  propagation  of  Christianity,  is  the 
success  of  Mahometanism.  The  Mahometan  institution  was 
rapid  in  its  progress,  was  recent  in  its  history,  and  was  founded 
upon  a  supernatural  or  prophetic  character  assumed  by  its 
author.  In  these  articles  the  resemblance  with  Christianity  is 
confessed.  But  there  are  points  of  difference,  which  separate, 
we  apprehend,  the  two  cases  entirely. 

I.  Mahomet  did  not  found  his  pretensions  upon  miracles, 
properly  so  called  ;  that  is,  upon  proofs  of  supernatural  agency, 
capable  of  being  known  and  attested  by  others.  Christians  are 
warranted  in  this  assertion  by  the  evidence  of  the  Koran,  in 
which  Mahomet  not  only  does  not  affect  the  power  of  working 
miracles,  but  expressly  disclaims  it.  The  following  passages  of 
that  book  furnish  direct  proofs  of  the  truth  of  what  ^e  allege  : 
'  The  infidels  say,  Unless  a  sign  be  sent  down  unto  him  from 
his  lord,  we  will  not  believe ;  thou  art  a  preacher  fltnly.' x 
Again,  '  Nothing  hindered  us  from  sending  thee  with  miracles, 
except  that  the  former  nations  have  charged  them  with  impos- 
ture.'2 And  lastly,  'They  say,  Unless  a  sign  be  sent  down 
unto  him  from  his  lord,  we  will  not  believe  ;  answer,  Signs  are 
in  the  power  of  God  alone,  and  I  am  no  more  than  a  public 
preacher.  Is  it  not  sufficient  for  them,  that  we  have  sent  down 
unto  them  the  book  of  the  Koran  to  be  read  unto  them  V 3 
Beside  these  acknowledgments,  I  have  observed  thirteen  dis- 
tinct places,  in  which  Mahomet  puts  the  objection  (unless  a 
sign,  &c),  into  the  mouth  of  the  unbeliever,  in  not  one  of 
which  does  he  allege  a  miracle  in  reply.  His  answer  is,  '  that 
God  giveth  the  power  of  working  miracles,  when  and  to  whom  he 
pleaseth  ;' 4  '  that  if  he  should  work  miracles,  they  would  not 
believe  ;' 5  '  that  they  had  before  rejected  Moses,  and  Jesus,  and 
the  Prophets,  who  wrought  miracles ;' 6  '  that  the  Koran  itself 
was  a  miracle.'7 

i  Sale's  Koran,  ch.  xiii.  p.  201,  ed.  quarto.  a  Cb.  xvii.  p.  232. 

»  Ch.  xxix.  p.  328.  4  Ch.  v.  x.  xiii.  twice.  3  Ch.  vi. 

•  Ch.  iii.  xxi.  xxviii.  7  Ch.  xvi. 


Ch.  ix.  §  3.]  Success  of  Mahometanism.  325 

The  only  place  in  the  Koran  in  which  it  can  be  pretended 
that  a  sensible  miracle  is  referred  to  (for  I  do  not  allow  the 
secret  visitations  of  Gabriel,  the  night  journey  of  Mahomet  to 
heaven,  or  the  presence  in  battle  of  invisible  hosts  of  angels,  to 
deserve  the  name  of  sensible  miracles)  is  the  beginning  of  the  fifty- 
fourth  chapter.  The  words  are  these — 'The  hour  of  judgment 
approacheth  and  the  moon  hath  been  split  in  sunder ;  but  if  the 
unbelievers  see  a  sign,  they  turn  aside,  saying,  This  is  a  power- 
ful charm.'  The  Mahometan  expositors  disagree  in  their  inter- 
pretation of  this  passage  ;  some  explaining  it  be  a  mention  of 
the  splitting  of  the  moon,  as  one  of  the  future  signs  of  the  ap- 
proach of  the  day  of  judgment ;  others  referring  it  to  a  mirac- 
ulous appearance  which  had  then  taken  place.1  It  seems  to  me 
not  improbable,  that  Mahomet  may  have  taken  advantage  of 
some  extraordinary  halo,  or  other  unusual  appearance  of  the 
moon,  which  had  happened  about  this  time  ;  and  which  supplied 
a  foundation  both  for  this  passage,  and  for  the  story  which 
in  after  times  had  been  raised  out  of  it. 

After  this  more  than  silence  ;  after  these  authentic  confes- 
sions of  the  Koran,  we  are  not  to  be  moved  with  miraculous 
stories  related  of  Mahomet  by  Abulfeda,  who  wrote  his  life 
about  six  hundred  years  after  his  death  ;  or  which  are  found  in 
the  legend  of  Al  Jannabi,  who  came  two  hundred  years  later.2 
On  the  contrary,  from  comparing  what  Mahomet  himself  wrote 
and  said,  with  what  was  afterwards  reported  of  him  by  his  fol- 
lowers, the  plain  and  fair  conclusion  is,  that,  when  the  religion 
was  established  by  conquest,  then,  and  not  till  then,  came  out 
the  stories  of  his  miracles. 

Now  this  difference  alone  constitutes,  in  my  opinion,  a  bar 
to  all  reasoning  from  one  case  to  the  other.  The  success  of  a 
religion  founded  upon  a  miraculous  history,  shows  the  credit 
which  was  given  to  the  history  ;  and  this  credit,  under  the  cir- 
cumstances in  which  it  was  given,  i.e.  by  persons  capable  of  know- 
ing the  truth,  and  interested  to  inquire  after  it,  is  evidence  of  the 

>  Vide  Sale  in  loc. 
2  It  does  not,  I  think,  appear  that  these  historians  had  any  written  accounts  to 
appeal  to  more  ancient  than  the  Sonnah,  which  was  a  collection  of  traditions  made 
by  order  of  the  Caliphs  two  hundred  years  after  Mahomet's  death.  Mahomet 
died  a.  d.  632  ;  Al-Bochari,  one  of  the  six  doctors  who  compiled  the  Sonnah,  was 
born  a.  d.  809,  died  869. — Prideaux's  Life  of  Mahomet,  p.  192,  ed.  7th. 


326  Evidences  of  Christianity.  [Part  II. 

reality  of  the  history,  and,  by  consequence,  of  the  truth  of  the 
religion.  Where  a  miraculous  history  is  not  alleged,  no  part 
of  this  argument  can  be  applied.  We  admit  that  multitudes 
acknowledged  the  pretensions  of  Mahomet ;  but  these  preten- 
sions being  destitute  of  miraculous  evidence,  we  know  that  the 
grounds  upon  which  they  were  acknowledged,  could  not  be 
secure  grounds  of  persuasion  to  his  followers,  nor  their  example 
any  authority  to  us.  Admit  the  whole  of  Mahomet's  authentic 
history,  so  far  as  it  was  of  a  nature  capable  of  being  known  or 
witnessed  by  others,  to  be  true  (which  is  certainly  to  admit  all 
that  the  reception  of  the  religion  can  be  brought  to  prove),  and 
Mahomet  might  still  be  an  impostor,  or  enthusiast,  or  a  union 
of  both.  Admit  to  be  true  almost  any  part  of  Christ's  history, 
of  that,  I  mean,  which  was  public,  and  within  the  cognizance 
of  his  followers,  and  he  must  have  come  from  God.  Where 
matter  of  fact  is  not  in  question,  where  miracles  are  not 
alleged,  I  do  not  see  that  the  progress  of  a  religion  is  a  better 
argument  of  its  truth,  than  the  prevalency  of  any  system  of 
opinions  in  natural  religion,  morality,  or  physics,  is  a  proof  of 
the  truth  of  those  opinions.  And  we  know  that  this  s.ort  of 
argument  is  inadmissible  in  any  branch  of  philosophy  what- 
ever. 

But  it  will  be  said,  If  one  religion  could  make  its  way  with- 
out miracles,  why  might  not  another?  To  which  I  reply  first, 
that  this  is  not  the  question  :  the  proper  question  is  not,  whe- 
ther a  religious  institution  could  be  set  up  without  miracles,  but 
whether  a  religion  or  a  change  of  religion,  founding  itself  in 
miracles,  could  succeed  without  any  reality  to  rest  upon?1  I 
apprehend  these  two  cases  to  be  very  different ;  and  I  appre- 
hend Mahomet's  not  taking  this  course  to  be  one  proof,  amongst 
others,  that  the  thing  is  difficult,  if  not  impossible,  to  be  ac- 
complished :  certainly  it  was  not  from  an  unconsciousness  of 


1  The  just  remark  of  Origen.  that  the  establishment  of  Christianity  without 
miracles  would  have  been  more  wonderful  than  all  the  miracles  recorded,  has  been 
strangely  misrepresented  as  implying  that  the  alternative  is,  the  occurrence  of  the 
miracles,  or,  the  establishment  of  a  religion  without  any.  The  real  alternative  is 
(as  Paley  has  rightly  observed^,  the  occurrence  of  the  miracles,  or  the  establish- 
ment, without  any,  of  a  religion  based  on  miraculous  evidence  ;  and  whose  first 
preachers,  supposing  they  had  not  witnessed,  and  exercised,  and  conferred  on  others, 
miraculous  powers,  must  have  been  men  who  braved  martyrdom  in  support  of 
the  most  palpable  and  impudent  falsehoods  that  ever  were  framed  — Ed. 


Ch.  ix.  §3.]  Success  of  Mahometanism.  327 

the  value  and  importance  of  miraculous  evidence ;  for  it  is  very 
observable,  that  in  the  same  volume,  and  sometimes  in  the  same 
chapters,  in  which  Mahomet  so  repeatedly  disclaims  the  power 
of  working  miracles  himself,  he  is  incessantly  referring  to  the 
miracles  of  preceding  prophets.  One  would  imagine,  to  hear 
some  men  talk,  or  to  read  some  books,  that  the  setting  up  of  a 
religion  by  dint  of  miraculous  pretences  was  a  thing  of  every 
day's  experience :  whereas  I  believe,  that  except  the  Jewish 
and  christian  religion,  there  is  no  tolerably  well  authenticated 
account  of  any  such  thing  having  been  accomplished. 

EC.  Secondly,  the  establishment  of  Mahomet's  religion  was 
effected  by  causes  which  in  no  degree  appertained  to  the 
origin  of  Christianity. 

During  the  first  twelve  years  of  his  mission,  Mahomet  had 
recourse  only  to  persuasion.  This  is  allowed.  And  there  is 
sufficient  reason  from  the  effect  to  believe,  that  if  he  had  con- 
fined himself  to  this  mode  of  propagating  his  religion,  we  of 
the  present  day  should  never  have  heard  either  of  him  or  it. 
'  Three  years  were  silently  employed  in  the  conversion  of four- 
teen proselytes.  For  ten  years  the  religion  advanced  with  a 
slow  and  painful  progress  within  the  walls  of  Mecca.  The 
number  of  proselytes  in  the  seventh  year  of  his  mission,  may 
be  estimated  by  the  absence  of  eighty-three  men  and  eighteen 
women,  who  retired  to  ./Ethiopia.' l  Yet  this  progress,  such  as 
it  was,  appears  to  have  been  aided  by  some  very  important 
advantages  which  Mahomet  found  in  his  situation,  in  his  mode 
of  conducting  his  design,  and  in  his  doctrine. 

1.  Mahomet  was  the  grandson  of  the  most  powerful  and 
honorable  family  in  Mecca  ;  and  although  the  early  death  of 
his  father  had  not  left  him  a  patrimony  suitable  to  his  birth, 
he  had,  long  before  the  commencement  of  his  mission,  repaired 
this  deficiency  by  an  opulent  marriage.  A  person  considerable 
by  his  wealth,  of  high  descent,  and  nearly  allied  to  the  chiefs 
of  his  country,  taking  upon  himself  the  character  of  a  religious 
teacher,  would  not  fail  of  attracting  attention  and  followers. 

2.  Mahomet  conducted  his  design,  in  the  outset  especially, 
with  great  art  and  prudence.  He  conducted  it  as  a  politician 
would  conduct  a  plot.     His  first  application  was  to  his  own 


1  Gibbon's  Hid.  vol.  ix.  p.  244  et  seq.  ed.  Dub. 


328  Evidences  of  Christianity.  [Part  II. 

family.  This  gained  him  his  wife's  uncle,  a  considerable  person 
in  Mecca,  together  with  his  cousin  Ali,  afterwards  the  cele- 
brated Caliph,  then  a  youth  of  great  expectation,  and  even 
already  distinguished  by  his  attachment,  impetuosity,  and 
courage.1  He  next  addressed  himself  to  Abu  Beer,  a  man 
amongst  the  first  of  the  Koreish  in  wealth  and  influence.  The 
interest  and  example  of  Abu  Beer  drew  in  five  other  prin- 
cipal persons  in  Mecca,  whose  solicitations  prevailed  upon  five 
more  of  the  same  rank.  This  was  the  work  of  three  years ; 
during  which  time  every  thing  was  transacted  in  secret.  Upon 
the  strength  of  these  allies,  and  under  the  powerful  protection 
of  his  family,  who,  however  some  of  them  might  disapprove  his 
enterprise,  or  deride  his  pretensions,  would  not  suffer  the 
orphan  of  their  house,  the  relict  of  their  favorite  brother,  to 
be  insulted,  Mahomet  now  commenced  his  public  preaching. 
And  the  advance  which  he  made,  during  the  nine  or  ten  re- 
maining years  of  his  peaceable  ministry,  was  by  no  means 
greater  than  what,  with  these  advantages,  and  with  the  addi- 
tional and  singular  circumstance  of  there  being  no ,  established 
religion  at  Mecca  at  that  time  to  contend  with,  might  reason- 
ably have  been  expected.  How  soon  his  primitive  adherents 
were  let  into  the  secret  of  his  views  of  empire,  or  in  whax  stage 
of  his  undertaking  these  views  first  opened  themselves  to  his 
own  mind,  it  is  not  now  easy  to  determine.  The  event  how- 
ever was,  that  these  his  first  proselytes  all  ultimately  attained 
to  riches  and  honors,  to  the  command  of  armies,  and  the  gov- 
ernment of  kingdoms.2 

3.  The  Arabs  deduced  their  descent  from  Abraham  through 
the  line  of  Ishmael.  The  inhabitants  of  Mecca,  in  common  pro- 
bably with  the  other  Arabian  tribes,  acknowledged,  as,  I  think, 
may  clearly  be  collected  from  the  Koran,  one  supreme  deity, 
but  had  associated  with  him  many  objects  of  idolatrous  worship. 
The  great  doctrine,  with  which  Mahomet  set  out,  was  the  strict 
and  exclusive  unity  of  God.     Abraham,  he  told  them,  their  il- 


i  Of  which  Mr.  Gihhon  has  preserved  the  following  specimen: — 'When  Ma- 
homet called  out  in  an  assembly  of  his  family,  Who  among  you  will  be  my  com- 
panion, and  my  vizir  ?  Ali,  then  only  in  the  fourteenth  year  of  his  age,  suddenly 
replied,  0  prophet,  I  am  the  man  ;  whosoever  rises  apainst  thee,  I  will  dash  out 
his  teeth,  tear  out  his  eyes,  break  his  legs,  rip  up  his  belly.  0  prophet,  I  will  be 
thy  vizir  over  them.' — Vol.  ix.  p.  245. 

3Gibb.  vol   ix.  p.  244. 


Ch.  ix.  §  3.]  Success  of  Makometanisin.  329 

lnstrious  ancestor;  Ishmael,  the  father  of  their  nation;  Moses, 
the  lawgiver  of  the  Jews  ;  and  Jesus,  the  author  of  Christianity, 
had  all  asserted  the  same  thing;  that  their  followers  had  uni- 
versally corrupted  the  truth,  and  that  he  was  now  commissioned 
to  restore  it  to  the  world.  Was  it  to  be  wondered  at,  that  a 
doctrine  so  specious,  and  authorized  by  names,  some  or  other 
of  which  were  holden  in  the  highest  veneration  by  every  de- 
scription of  his  hearers,  should,  in  the  hands  of  a  popular  mis- 
sionary, prevail  to  the  extent  in  which  Mahomet  succeeded 
by  his  pacific  ministry  ? 

4.  Of  the  institution  which  Mahomet  joined  with  this  funda- 
mental doctrine,  and  of  the  Koran,  in  which  that  institution  is 
delivered,  we  discover,  I  think,  two  purposes  that  pervade  the 
whole,  viz.,  to  make  converts,  and  to  make  his  converts  soldiers. 
The  following  particulars,  amongst  others,  may  be  considered 
as  pretty  evident  indications  of  these  designs  : 

1.  When  Mahomet  began  to  preach,  his  address  to  the  Jews, 
the  Christians,  and  to  the  Pagan  Arabs,  was,  that  the  religion 
which  he  taught  was  no  other  than  what  had  been  originally 
their  own.  '  We  believe  in  God,  and  that  which  hath  been  sent 
down  unto  us,  and  that  which  hath  been  sent  clown  unto  Abra- 
ham, and  Ismael,  and  Isaac,  and  Jacob  and  the  Tribes,  and  that 
which  was  delivered  unto  Moses  and  Jesus,  and  that  which 
was  delivered  unto  the  Prophets  from  their  Lord  ;  we  make  no 
distinction  between  any  of  them.' l  '  He  hath  ordained  you  the 
religion  which  he  commanded  Noah,  and  which  we  have  revealed 
unto  thee,  O  Mohammed,  and  which  we  commanded  Abraham 
and  Moses  and  Jesus,  saying,  Observe  this  religion,  and  be  not 
divided  therein.' 2  '  He  hath  chosen  you,  and  hath  not  imposed 
on  you  any  difficulty  in  the  religion  which  he  hath  given  you, 
the  religion  of  your  father  Abraham.' 3 

2.  The  author  of  the  Koran  never  ceases  from  describing  the 
future  anguish  of  unbelievers,  their  despair,  regret,  penitence, 
and  torment.  It  is  the  point  which  he  labors  above  all  others. 
And  these  descriptions  are  conceived  in  terms  which  will  appear 
in  no  small  degree  impressive,  even  to  the  modern  reader  of  an 
English  translation.     Doubtless  they  would  operate  with  much 


1  Sale's  Koran,  ch.  ii.  p.  17.  2  Ibid.  ch.  xlii.  p.  393. 

3  Ibid.  ch.  xxii.  p.  281. 


330  Evidences  of  Christianity.  [Part  II. 

greater  force  upon  the  minds  of  those  to  whom  they  were  im- 
mediately directed.  The  terror  which  they  seem  well  calcu- 
lated to  inspire,  would  be  to  many  tempers  a  powerful  appli- 
cation. 

3.  On  the  other  hand,  his  voluptuous  paradise  ;  his  robes  of 
silk,  his  palaces  of  marble,  his  rivers  and  shades,  his  groves  and 
couches,  his  wines,  his  dainties ;  and  above  all,  his  seventy-two 
virgins  assigned  to  each  of  the  faithful,  of  resplendent  beauty 
and  eternal  youth  ;  intoxicated  the  imaginations,  and  seized  the 
passions,  of  his  Eastern  followers. 

4.  But  Mahomet's  highest  heaven  was  reserved  for  those  who 
fought  his  battles,  or  expended  their  fortunes  in  his  cause. 
k  Those  believers  who  sit  still  at  home,  not  having  any  hurt,  and 
those  who  employ  their  fortunes  and  their  persons  for  the  reli- 
gion of  God,  shall  not  be  held  equal.  God  hath  preferred  those 
who  employ  their  fortunes  and  their  persons  in  that  cause,  to  a 
degree  above  those  who  sit  at  home.  God  hath  indeed  promised 
every  one  Paradise,  but  God  hath  preferred  those  who  fight  for 
the  faith,  before  those  who  sit  still,  by  adding  unto  them  a 
great  reward  ;  by  degrees  of  honor  conferred  upon  them  from 
him,  and  by  granting  them  forgiveness  and  mercy.' 1  ^A.gain, 
'  Do  ye  reckon  the  giving  drink  to  the  pilgrims,  and  the  visit- 
ing of  the  holy  temple,  to  be  actions  as  meritorious  as  those 
performed  by  him  who  believeth  in  God  and  the  last  day,  and 
fightethfor  the  religion  of  God  ?  They  shall  not  be  held  equal 
with  God. — They  who  have  believed,  and  fled  their  country,  and 
employed  their  substance  and  their  persons  in  the  defence  of 
God's  true  religion,  shall  be  in  the  highest  degree  of  honor 
with  God  ;  and  these  are  they  who  shall  be  happy.  The  Lord 
sendeth  them  good  tidings  of  mercy  from  him,  and  good 
will,  and  of  gardens  wherein  they  shall  enjoy  lasting  plea- 
sures. They  shall  continue  therein  forever,  for  with  God  is  a 
great  reward.'2  And,  once  more,  '  Verily  God  hath  purchased 
of  the  true  believers  their  souls  and  their  substance,  promising 
them  the  enjoyment  of  Paradise,  on  condition  that  they  fight 
for  the  cause  of  God:  whether  they  slay  or  be  slain,  the  promise 
for  the  same  is  assuredly  due  by  the  Law  and  the  Gospel  and 
the  Koran? 4 


1  Sale's  Koran,  ch.  iv.  p.  73.  ■  [bid.  ch.  ix.  p.  151.  3  Ibid.  p.  104. 

*  '  The  sword  [saith  Mahomet]  is  the  key  of  heaven  and  of  hell ;  a  drop  of  blood 


Ch.  ix.  §  3.]  Success  of  Mahometanism.  331 

5.  His  doctrine  of  predestination  was  applicable,  and  was 
applied  by  him,  to  the  same  purpose  of  fortifying  and  of  exalt- 
ing the  courage  of  his  adherents.  '  If  any  thing  of  the  matter 
had  happened  unto  us,  we  had  not  been  slain  here.  Answer : 
If  ye  had  been  in  your  houses,  verily  they  would  have  gone 
forth  to  light,  whose  slaughter  was  decreed,  to  the  places  where 
they  died.' l 

6.  In  warm  regions,  the  appetite  of  the  sexes  is  ardent,  the 
passion  for  inebriating  liquors  moderate.  In  compliance  with 
this  distinction,  although  Mahomet  laid  a  restraint  upon  the 
drinking  of  wine,  in  the  use  of  women  he  allowed  an  almost 
unbounded  indulgence.  Four  wives,  with  the  liberty  of  chang- 
ing them  at  pleasure,2  together  with  the  persons  of  all  his  cap- 
tives,3 was  an  irresistible  bribe  to  an  Arabian  warrior.  '  God 
is  minded  [says  he,  speaking  of  this  very  subject]  to  make 
his  religion  light  unto  you,  for  man  was  created  weak.'  How 
different  this  from  the  unaccommodating  purity  of  the  Gospel ! 
How  would  Mahomet  have  succeeded  with  the  Christian  lesson 
in  his  mouth,  '  Whosoever  looketh  upon  a  woman  to  lust  after 
her,  hath  committed  adultery  with  her  already  in  his  heart  V 
It  must  be  added,  that  Mahomet  did  not  venture  upon  the 
prohibition  of  wine  till  the  fourth  year  of  the  Hegira,  or  the 
seventeenth  of  his  mission,4  when  his  military  successes  had 
completely  established  his  authority.  The  same  observation 
holds  of  the  fast  of  the  Ramadan,5  and  of  the  most  laborious 
part  of  his  institution,  the  pilgrimage  to  Mecca.6 

What  has  hitherto  been  collected  from  the  records  of  the 
Mussulman  history  relates  to  the  twelve  or  thirteen  years  of 
Mahomet's  peaceable  preaching,  which  part  alone  of  his  life 
and   enterprise  admits   of  the   smallest   comparison  with   the 

shed  in  the  cause  of  God,  a  night  spent  in  arms,  is  of  more  avail  than  two  months 
of  fasting  or  prayer.  Whosoever  falls  in  battle,  his  sins  are  forgiven  at  the  day 
of  judgment ;  his  wounds  shall  be  resplendent  as  vermilion,  and  odoriferous  as 
musk,  and  the  loss  of  his  limbs  shall  be  supplied  by  the  wings  of  angels  and 
cherubim.' — Gibb.  ix.  p.  256. 

1  Ch.  iii.  p.  54.  2  Ch.  iv.  p.  63.  3  Gibb.  p.  255. 

*  Mod.  Un.  Hist.  vol.  i.  p.  126.  «  Ibid.  p.  112. 

6  This  latter,  however,  already  prevailed  amongst  the  Arabs,  and  had  grown 
out  of  their  excessive  veneration  for  the  Caaba.  Mahomet's  law,  in  this  respect, 
was  rather  a  compliance  than  an  innovation.* 


'  Sale's  Prelim.  Disc.  p.  122. 


332  Evidences  of  Christianity.  [Part  II. 

origin  of  Christianity.     A  new  scene  is  now  unfolded.     The 
city  of  Medina,  distant  about  ten  days'  journey  from  Mecca, 
was  at  that  time  distracted  by  the  hereditary  contentions  of 
two  hostile  tribes.    These  feuds  were  exasperated  by  the  mutual 
persecutions  of  the  Jews  and  Christians,  and  of  the  different 
Christian  sects  by  which  the  city  was  inhabited.1     The  religion 
of  Mahomet  presented,  in  some  measure,  a  point  of  union  or 
compromise  to  these  divided  opinions.     It  embraced  the  prin- 
ciples which  were  common  to  them  all.     Each  party  saw  in  it 
an  honorable   acknowledgment  of  the  fundamental  truth  of 
their  own   system.     To  the  Pagan  Arab,  somewhat  imbued 
with  the  sentiments  and  knowledge  of  his  Jewish  or  Christian 
fellow-citizen,  it  offered  no  offensive,  or  very  improbable  the- 
ology.    This  recommendation  procured  to  Mahometanism  a 
more  favorable  reception  at  Medina  than  its  author  had  been 
able,  by  twelve  years'  painful  endeavors,  to  obtain  for  it  at 
Mecca.     Yet,  after  all,  the  progress  of  the  religion  was  incon- 
siderable.    His  missionary  could  only  collect  a  congregation 
of  forty  persons.2     It  was  not  a  religious,  but  a  political  asso- 
ciation which  ultimately  introduced  Mahomet  into  Medina. 
Harassed,  as  it  should  seem,  and  disgusted  by  the  loi%  con- 
tinuance of  factions  and  disputes,  the  inhabitants  of  that  city 
saw  in  the  admission  of  the  Prophet's  authority  a  rest  from 
the  miseries  which  they  had  suffered,  and  a  suppression  of  the 
violence  and  fury  which  they  had  learned  to  condemn.     After 
an  embassy,  therefore,  composed  of  believers  and  unbelievers,3 
and  of  persons  of  both  tribes,  with  whom  a  treaty  was  con- 
cluded of  strict  alliance  and  support,  Mahomet  made  his  public 
entry,  and  was  received  as  the  Sovereign  of  Medina. 

From  this  time,  or  soon  after  this  time,  the  impostor  changed 
his  language  and  his  conduct.  Having  now  a  town  at  his 
command  where  to  arm  his  party,  and  to  head  them  with 
security,  he  enters  upon  new  counsels.  He  now  pretends  that 
a  divine  commission  is  given  to  him  to  attack  the  infidels,  to 
destroy  idolatry,  and  to  set  up  the  true  faith  by  the  sword.4 
An  early  victory  over  a  very  superior  force,  achieved  by  con- 
duct and  bravery,  established  the  renown  of  his  arms,  and  of  his 


1  Mod.  Un.  Hist.  vol.  i.  p.  100.  a  Ibid.  p.  85. 

» Ibid.  p.  85.  « Ibid.  p.  88. 


Ch.  ix.  §  3.J  Success  of  Ma/wmetanism.  333 

personal  character.1  Every  year  after  this  was  marked  by 
battles  or  assassinations.  The  nature  and  activity  of  Maho- 
met's future  exertions  may  be  estimated  from  the  computation 
that,  in  the  nine  following  years  of  his  life,  he  commanded  his 
army  in  person  in  eight  general  engagements,2  and  undertook, 
by  himself  or  his  lieutenants,  fifty  military  enterprises. 

From  this  time  we  have  nothing  left  to  account  for,  but 
that  Mahomet  should  collect  an  army,  that  his  army  should 
conquer,  and  that  his  religion  should  proceed  together  with 
his  conquests.  The  ordinary  experience  of  human  affairs  leaves 
us  little  to  wonder  at,  in  any  of  these  effects :  and  they  were 
likewise  each  assisted  by  peculiar  facilities.  From  all  sides, 
the  roving  Arabs  crowded  round  the  standard  of  religion  and 
plunder,  of  freedom  and  victory,  of  arms  and  rapine.  Beside 
the  highly  painted  joys  of  a  carnal  paradise,  Mahomet  re- 
warded his  followers  in  this  world  with  a  liberal  division  of 
the  spoils,  and  with  the  persons  of  their  female  captives.3 
The  condition  of  Arabia,  occupied  by  small  independent  tribes, 
exposed  it  to  the  impression,  and  yielded  to  the  progress  of  a 
firm  and  resolute  army.  After  the  reduction  of  his  native 
peninsula,  the  weakness  also  of  the  Roman  provinces  on  the 
North  and  the  West,  as  well  as  the  distracted  state  of  the 
Persian  Empire  on  the  East,  facilitated  the  successful  invasion 
of  neighboring  countries.  That  Mahomet's  conquests  should 
carry  his  religion  along  with  them,  will  excite  little  surprise 
when  we  know  the  conditions  which  he  proposed  to  the  van- 
quished. Death  or  conversion  was  the  only  choice  offered  to 
idolaters.  '  Strike  off  their  heads ;  strike  off  all  the  ends  of 
their  fingers:4  kill  the  idolaters,  wheresoever  ye  shall  find 
them.'5  To  the  Jews  and  Christians  was  left  the  somewhat 
milder  alternative,  of  subjection  and  tribute,  if  they  persisted 
in  their  own  religion,  or  of  an  equal  participation  in  the  rights 
and  liberties,  the  honors  and  privileges,  of  the  faithful,  if 
they  embraced  the  religion  of  their  conquerors.  'Ye  chris- 
tian clogs,  you  know  your  option  ;  the  JToran,  the  tribute,  or 
the  sword.'6     The  corrupt  state  of  Christianity  in  the  seventh 


1  Victory  of  Bedr,  ibid.  p.  106.  »  Un.  Hist.  vol.  i.  p.  255. 

»  Gibb.  vol.  ix.  p.  255.  *  Sale's  Koran,  ch.  viii.  p.  140. 

6  Ibid.  ch.  ix.  p   149.  «  Gibb.  ibid.  p.  337. 


334  Evidences  o*  Christianity.  [Part  II. 

century,  and  the  contentions  of  its  sects,  unhappily  so  fell  in 
with  men's  care  of  their  safety,  or  their  fortunes,  as  to  induce 
many  to  forsake  its  profession.  Add  to  all  which,  that  Maho- 
met's victories  not  only  operated  by  the  natural  effect  of  con- 
quest, but  that  they  were  constantly  represented,  both  to  his 
friends  and  enemies,  as  divine  declarations  in  his  favor. 
Success  was  evidence.  Prosperity  carried  with  it,  not  only 
influence,  but  proof.  'Ye  have  already,'  says  he,  after  the 
battle  of  Bedr,  '  had  a  miracle  shown  you,  in  two  armies 
which  attacked  each  other ;  one  army  fought  for  God's  true 
religion,  but  the  other  were  infidels.' l  Again,  '  Ye  slew  not 
those  who  were  slain  at  Bedr,  but  God  slew  them. — If  ye  de- 
sire a  decision  of  the  matter  between  us,  now  hath  a  decision 
come  unto  you.' 2 

Many  more  passages  might  be  collected  out  of  the  Koran 
to  the  same  effect.  But  they  are  unnecessary.  The  success 
of  Mahometanism  during  this,  and  indeed  every  future  period 
of  its  history,  bears  so  little  resemblance  to  the  early  propa- 
gation of  Christianity,  that  no  inference  whatever  Can  justly 
be  drawn  from  it  to  the  prejudice  of  the  christian  argument. 
For  what  are  we  comparing?  A  Galilean  peasant  accompanied 
by  a  few  fishermen,  with  a  conqueror  at  the  head  of  his  army. 
We  compare  Jesus  without  force,  without  power,  without  sup- 
port, without  one  external  circumstance  of  attraction  or  in- 
fluence, prevailing  against  the  prejudices,  the  learning,  the 
hierarchy  of  his  country,  against  the  ancient  religious  opinions, 
the  pompous  religious  rites,  the  philosophy,  the  wisdom,  the 
authority  of  the  Roman  empire,  in  the  most  polished  and  en- 
lightened period  of  its  existence,  with  Mahomet  making  his 
way  amongst  Arabs ;  collecting  followers  in  the  midst  of  con- 
quests and  triumphs,  in  the  darkest  ages  and  countries  of  the 
world,  and  when  success  in  arms  not  only  operated  by  that 
command  of  men's  wills  and  persons  which  attends  prosperous 
undertakings,  but  was  considered  as  a  sure  testimony  of  divine 
approbation.  That  multitudes,  persuaded  by  this  argument, 
should  join  the  train  of  a  victorious  chief;  that  still  greater 
multitudes  should,  without  any  argument,  bow  down  before 
irresistible  power,  is  a  conduct  in  which  we  cannot   see   much 


1  Sale's  Koran,  ch.  iii.  p.  36.  2  Ch   viii.  p.  141. 


Ch.  ix.  §  3.]  Success  of  Mahometanism.  335 

to  surprise  ns  :  in  which  we  can  see  nothing  that  resembles 
the  causes  by  which  the  establishment  of  Christianity  was 
effected. 

The  success  therefore  of  Mahometanism  stands  not  in  the 
way  of  this  important  conclusion,  that  the  propagation  of  Chris- 
tianity, in  the  manner  and  under  the  circumstances  in  which 
it  was  propagated,  is  an  unique  in  the  history  of  the  species. 
A  Jewish  peasant  overthrew  the  religion  of  the  world. 

I  have,  nevertheless,  placed  the  prevalency  of  the  religion 
amongst  the  auxiliary  arguments  of  its  truth ;  because,  whether 
it  had  prevailed  or  not,  or  whether  its  prevalency  can  or  cannot 
be  accounted  for,  the  direct  argument  remains  still.  It  is  still 
true,  that  a  great  number  of  men  upon  the  spot,  personally  con- 
nected with  the  history  and  with  the  author  of  the  religion, 
were  induced  by  what  they  heard  and  saw  and  knew,  not  only 
to  change  their  former  opinions,  but  to  give  up  their  time,  and 
sacrifice  their  ease,  to  traverse  seas  and  kingdoms  without 
rest  and  without  weariness,  to  commit  themselves  to  extreme 
dangers,  to  undertake  incessant  toils,  to  undergo  grievous  suf- 
ferings, and  all  this,  solely  in  consequence,  and  in  support,  of 
their  belief  of  facts,  which,  if  true,  establish  the  truth  of  the 
religion,  which,  if  false,  they  must  have  known  to  be  so. 


PART  III. 

A  BKIEF  CONSIDERATION   OF  SOME   POPULAR  OBJECTIONS. 


CHAPTER    I. 

TJie  Discrepancies  between  the  sm^eral  Gospels. 

I  KNOW  not  a  more   rash  or  unphilosophical   conduct   of 
the  understanding,  than  to  reject  the  substance  of  a  story, 
by  reason  of  some  diversity  in  the  circumstances  with  which  it 
is  related.     The  usual  character  of  human  testimony  is  sub- 
stantial truth  under  circumstantial  variety.     This  is  what  the 
daily  experience  of  courts  of  justice  teaches.     When  accounts 
of  a  transaction  come  from  the  mouths  of  different  witnesses, 
it  is  seldom  that  it  is  not  possible  to  pick  out  apparent  or  real 
inconsistencies  between  them.     These  inconsistencies- are  studi- 
ously displayed  by  an  adverse  pleader,  but  oftentimes  with 
little  impression  upon  the  minds  of  the  judges.     On  th$  con- 
trary, a  close  and  minute  agreement  induces  the  suspicion  of 
confederacy  and  fraud.    When  written  histories  touch  upon  the 
same  scenes  of  action,  the  comparison  almost  always  affords 
ground  for  a  like  reflection.     Numerous,  and  sometimes  impor- 
tant, variations  present  themselves  ;  not  seldom  also,  absolute 
and  final  contradictions  ;  yet  neither  one  nor  the  other  are 
deemed  sufficient  to  shake  the  credibility  of  the  main  fact.    The 
embassy  of  the  Jews  to  deprecate  the  execution  of  Claudian's 
order  to  place  his  statue  in  their  temple,  Philo  places  in  har- 
vest, Josephus  in  seed-time;  both  contemporary  writers.     No 
reader  is  led  by  this  inconsistency  to  doubt,  whether  such  an 
embassy  was  sent,  or  whether  such  an  order  was  given.     Our 
own  history  supplies  examples  of  the  same  kind.    In  the  account 
of  the  Marquis  of  Argyle's  death  in  the  reign  of  Charles  the 
Second,   we    have    a    very    remarkable    contradiction.      Lord 
Clarendon    relates    that    he    was    condemned    to   be    hanged, 
which  was  performed  the  same  day:  on  the  contrary,  Burnet, 
Woodrow,  Heath,  Echard,  concur  in  stating  that  he  was  be- 
headed;  and  that  he  was  condemned  upon  the  Saturday,  and 


Chap,  i.]  Discrepancies  between  the  Gospels.  337 

executed  upon  the  Monday.1  "Was  any  reader  of  English  his- 
tory ever  sceptic  enough  to  raise  from  hence  a  question,  whether 
the  Marquis  of  Argyle  was  executed  or  not  ?  Yet  this  ought 
to  be  left  in  uncertainty,  according  to  the  principles  upon  which 
the  christian  history  has  sometimes  been  attacked.  Dr.  Mid- 
dleton  contended,  that  the  different  hours  of  the  day  assigned 
to  the  crucifixion  of  Christ,  by  John  and  by  the  other  evan- 
gelists, did  not  admit  of  the  reconcilement  which  learned  men 
had  proposed  ;  and  then  concludes  the  discussion  with  this  hard 
remark  :  '  We  must  be  forced,  with  several  of  the  critics,  to 
leave  the  difficulty  just  as  we  found  it,  chargeable  with  all  the 
consequences  of  manifest  inconsistency.'2  But  what  are  these 
consequences  ?  By  no  means  the  discrediting  of  the  history  as 
to  the  principal  fact,  by  a  repugnancy  (even  supposing  that  re- 
pugnancy not  to  be  resolvable  into  different  modes  of  com- 
putation) in  the  time  of  the  day  in  which  it  is  said  to  have 
taken  place. 

A  great  deal  of  the  discrepancy,  observable  in  the  Gospels, 
arises  from  omission  /  from  a  fact  or  a  passage  of  Christ's  life 
being  noticed  by  one  writer,  which  is  unnoticed  by  another. 
Now,  omission  is  at  all  times  a  very  uncertain  ground  of  ob- 
jection. We  perceive  it,  not  only  in  the  comparison  of  different 
writers,  but  even  in  the  same  writer,  when  compared  with  him- 
self. There  are  a  great  many  particulars,  and  some  of  them 
of  importance,  mentioned  by  Josephus  in  his  Antiquities,  which, 
as  we  should  have  supposed,  ought  to  have  been  put  down  by 
him  in  their  place  in  the  Jewish  Wars.3  Suetonius,  Tacitus, 
Dio  Cassius,  have,  all  three,  written  of  the  reign  of  Tiberius. 
Each  has  mentioned  many  things  omitted  by  the  rest,4  yet  no 
objection  is  from  thence  taken  to  the  respective  credit  of  their 
histories.  We  have  in  our  own  times,  if  there  were  not 
something  indecorous  in  the  comparison,  the  life  of  an  eminent 
person,  written  by  three  of  his  friends,  in  which  there  is  very 
great  variety  in  the  incidents  selected  by  them  ;  some  appa- 
rent, and  perhaps  some  real  contradictions;  yet  without  any 
impeachment  of  the  substantial  truth  of  their  accounts  of  the 


1  See  Biog.  Brilan. 

1  Middleton's  Reflections  answered  by  Benson,  But.  Chris,  vol.  iii.  p.  50. 

3  Lard,  part  i.  vol.  ii.  p.  735  et  seq.  i  Ibid.  p.  743. 


338  Evidences  of  Christianity.  [Part  III. 

authenticity  of  the  books,  of  the  competent  information  or 
general  fidelity  of  the  writers. 

But  these  discrepancies  will  be  still  more  numerous,  when 
men  do  not  write  histories  but  memoirs  ;  which  is  perhaps  the 
true  name  and  proper  description  of  our  Gospels :  that  is,  wdien 
they  do  not  undertake,  or  ever  meant  to  deliver,  in  order  of 
time,  a  regular  and  complete  account  of  all  the  things  of  im- 
portance, which  the  person,  who  is  the  subject  of  their  history, 
did  or  said ;  but  only,  out  of  many  similar  ones,  to  give  such 
passages,  or  such  actions  and  discourses  as  offered  themselves 
more  immediately  to  their  attention,  came  in  the  way  of  their 
inquiries,  occurred  to  their  recollection,  or  were  suggested  by 
their  particular  design  at  the  time  of  writing. 

This  particular  design  may  appear  sometimes,  but  not 
always,  nor  often.  Thus  I  think  that  the  particular  design 
which  St.  Matthew  had  in  view  whilst  he  was  writing  the 
history  of  the  resurrection,  was  to  attest  the  faithful  performance 
of  Christ's  promise  to  his  disciples  to  go  before  them  into 
Galilee ;  because  he  alone,  except  Mark,  who  seems"  tq.have 
taken  it  from  him,  has  recorded  this  promise,  and  he  alone  has 
confined  his  narrative  to  that  single  appearance  to  the  disciples 
which  fulfilled  it.  It  was  the  preconcerted,  the  great  and  most 
public  manifestation  of  our  Lord's  person.  It  was  the  thing 
which  dwelt  upon  St.  Matthew's  mind,  and  he  adapted  his 
narrative  to  it.  But,  that  there  is  nothing  in  St,  Matthew's 
language  which  negatives  other  appearances,  or  which  imports 
that  this  his  appearance  to  his  disciples  in  Galilee,  in  pursuance 
of  his  promise,  was  his  first  or  only  appearance,  is  made  pretty 
evident  by  St.  Mark's  Gospel,  which  uses  the  same  terms 
concerning  the  appearance  in  Galilee  as  St.  Matthew  uses, 
yet  itself  records  two  other  appearances  prior  to  this:  'Go 
your  way,  tell  his  disciples  and  Peter,  that  he  goeth  before 
you  into  Galilee,  then  shall  ye  see  him  as  he  said  unto  you.' 
(xvi.  7.)  We  might  be  apt  to  infer  from  these  words,  that  this 
was  the  first  time  they  were  to  see  him:  at  least,  we  might 
infer  it,  with  as  much  reason  as  we  draw  the  inference  from  the 
same  words  in  Matthew:  yet  the  historian  himself  did  not  per- 
ceive that  he  was  leading  his  readers  to  any  such  conclusion  ; 
for,  in  the  twelfth  and  two  following  verses  of  this  chapter,  he 
informs  us  of  two  appearances,  which,  by  comparing  the  order 


Chap,  ii.]  Erroneous  Opinions  imputed  to  the  Apostles.       339 

of  events,  are  shown  to  have  been  prior  to  the  appearance  in 
Galilee.  '  He  appeared  in  another  form  unto  two  of  them,  as 
they  walked,  and  went  into  the  country  ;  and  they  went  and 
told  it  unto  the  residue,  neither  believed  they  them :  afterwards, 
he  appeared  unto  the  eleven,  as  they  sat  at  meat,  and  upbraided 
them  with  their  unbelief,  because  they  believed  not  them  that 
had  seen  him  after  he  was  risen.' 

Probably  the  same  observations,  concerning  the  particular 
design  which  guided  the  historian,  may  be  of  use  in  comparing 
many  other  passages  of  the  Gospels. 


CHAPTER  H. 

Erroneous  Opinions  imputed  to  the  Apostles. 

A  SPECIES  of  candor  which  is  shown  towards  every  other 
book,  is  sometimes  refused  to  the  Scriptures ;  and  that 
is,  the  placing  of  a  distinction  between  judgment  and  testimony. 
We  do  not  usually  question  the  credit  of  a  writer,  by  reason  of 
any  opinion  he  may  have  delivered  upon  subjects  unconnected 
with  his  evidence  ;  and  even  upon  subjects  connected  with  his 
account,  or  mixed  with  it  in  the  same  discourse  or  writing,  we 
naturally  separate  facts  from  opinions,  testimony  from  observa- 
tion, narrative  from  argument. 

To  apply  this  equitable  consideration  to  the  christian  records, 
much  controversy  and  much  objection  has  been  raised  concern- 
ing the  quotations  of  the  Old  Testament  found  in  the  New ; 
some  of  which  quotations,  it  is  said,  are  applied  in  a  sense, 
and  to  events,  apparently  different  from  that  which  they  bear, 
and  from  those  to  which  they  belong,  in  the  original.  It  is  pro- 
bable to  my  apprehension,  that  many  of  those  quotations  were 
intended  by  the  writers  of  the  New  Testament  as  nothing  more 
than  accommodations.  They  quoted  passages  of  their  scripture, 
which  suited,  and  fell  in  with,  the  occasion  before  them, 
without  always  undertaking  to  assert,  that  the  occasion  was  in 
the  view  of  the  author  of  the  words.  Such  accommodations  of 
passages  from  old  authors,  from  books  especially  which  are  in 
every  one's  hands  are  common  with  writers  of  all  countries; 


3-iO  Evidences  of  Christian  ity.  [Part  III. 

but  in  none,  perhaps,  were  more  to  be  expected,  than  in  the 
writings  of  the  Jews,  whose  literature  was  almost  entirely  con- 
fined to  their  scriptures.  Those  prophecies  which  are  alleged 
with  more  solemnity,  and  which  are  accompanied  with  a  precise 
declaration,  that  they  originally  respected  the  event  then  re- 
lated, are,  I  think,  truly  alleged.  But  were  it  otherwise  ;  is  the 
judgment  of  the  writers  of  the  New  Testament,  in  interpreting 
passages  of  the  Old,  or  sometimes,  perhaps,  in  receiving  estab- 
lished interpretations,  so  connected  either  with  their  veracity, 
or  with  their  means  of  information  concerning  what  was  passing 
in  their  own  times,  as  that  a  critical  mistake,  even  were  it 
clearly  made  out,  should  overthrow  their  historical  credit  ? 
— Does  it  diminish  it?     Has  it  any  thing  to  do  with  it? 

Another  error  imputed  to  the  first  Christians,  was  the  ex- 
pected approach  of  the  day  of  judgment.  I  would  introduce 
this  objection  by  a  remark  upon  what  appears  to  me  a  some- 
what similar  example.  Our  Saviour,  speaking  to  Peter  of 
John,  said,  'If  I  will  that  he  tarry  till  I  come,  what  .is  that  to 
thee?'1  These  words,  we  find,  had  been  so  misconstrued,  as 
that  '  a  report'  from  thence  '  went  abroad  among  the  brethren, 
that  that  disciple  should  not  die.'  Suppose  that  this  had  come 
down  to  us  amongst  the  prevailing  opinions  of  the  early 
I  liristians,  and  that  the  particular  circumstance,  from  which 
the  mistake  sprung,  had  been  lost  (which  humanly  speaking 
was  most  likely  to  have  been  the  case),  some,  at  this  day, 
would  have  been  ready  to  regard  and  quote  the  error,  as  an 
impeachment  of  the  whole  christian  system.  Yet  with  how 
little  justice  such  a  conclusion  would  have  been  drawn,  or  rather 
such  a  presumption  taken  up,  the  information  which  we  happen 
to  possess  enables  us  now  to  perceive.  To  those  who  think 
that  the  scriptures  lead  us  to  believe,  that  the  early  Christians, 
and  even  the  Apostles,  expected  the  approach  of  the  day  of 
judgment  in  their  own  times,  the  same  reflection  will  occur,  as 
that  which  we  have  made  with  respect  to  the  more  partial 
perhaps  and  temporary,  but  still  no  less  ancient,  error  concern- 
ing the  duration  of  St.  John's  life,  it  was  an  error,  it  may  be 
likewise  said,  which  would  effectually  hinder  those  who  enter- 
tained it  from  acting  the  part  of  impostors. 


1  John  xxi.  '23. 


Cb.  ii.]      Erroneous  Opinions  imputed  to  the  Apostles.        341 

The  difficulty  which  attends  the  subject  of  the  present 
chapter,  is  contained  in  this  question  :  If  we  once  admit  the 
fallibility  of  the  apostolic  judgment,  where  are  we  to  stop,  or 
in  what  can  we  rely  upon  it  ?  To  which  question,  as  arguing 
with  unbelievers,  and  as  arguing  for  the  substantial  truth  of 
the  christian  history,  and  for  that  alone,  it  is  competent  to 
the  advocate  of  Christianity  to  reply,  Give  me  the  apostle's 
testimony,  and  I  do  not  stand  in  need  of  their  judgment ;  give 
me  the  facts,  and  I  have  complete  security  for  every  conclu- 
sion I  want. 

IP 

But,  although  I  think  that  it  is  competent  to  the  christian 
apologist  to  return  this  answer  ;  I  do  not  think  that  it  is  the 
only  answer  which  the  objection  is  capable  of  receiving.  The 
two  following  cautions,  founded,  I  apprehend,  in  the  most  rea- 
sonable distinctions,  will  exclude  all  uncertainty  upon  this  head 
which  can  be  attended  with  danger. 

First,  to  separate  what  was  the  object  of  the  apostolic  mis- 
sion, and  declared  by  them  to  be  so,  from  what  was  extraneous 
to  it,  or  only  incidentally  connected  with  it.  Of  points  clearly 
extraneous  to  the  religion,  nothing  need  be  said.  Of  points 
incidentally  connected  with  it,  something  may  be  added. 
Demoniacal  possession  is  one  of  these  points  :  concerning  the 
reality  of  which,  as  this  place  will  not  admit  the  examination, 
or  even  the  production  of  the  arguments  on  either  side  of  the 
question,  it  would  be  arrogance  in  me  to  deliver  any  judgment. 
And  it  is  unnecessary.  For  what  I  am  concerned  to  observe 
is,  that  even  they  who  think  that  it  was  a  general,  but  erro- 
neous opinion  of  those  times  ;  and  that  the  writers  of  the  jSTew 
Testament,  in  common  with  other  Jewish  writers  of  that  age, 
fell  into  the  manner  of  speaking  and  of  thinking  upon  the 
subject  which  then  universally  prevailed  ;  need  not  be  alarmed 
by  the  concession,  as  though  they  had  any  thing  to  fear  from 
it,  for  the  truth  of  Christianity.  The  doctrine  was  not  what 
Christ  brought  into  the  world.  It  appears  in  the  christian 
records,  incidentally  and  accidentally,  as  being  the  subsisting 
opinion  of  the  age  and  country  in  which  his  ministry  was  exer- 
cised. It  was  no  part  of  the  object  of  his  revelation,  to  regulate 
men's  opinions  concerning  the  action  of  spiritual  substances 
upon  animal  bodies.  At  any  rate  it  is  unconnected  with  tes- 
timony.    If  a  dumb  person  was  by  a  word  restored  to  the  use 


34:2  Evidences  of  Christianity.  [Part  III. 

of  his  speech,  it  signifies  little  to  what  cause  the  dumbness 
was  ascribed  ;  and  the  like  of  every  other  cure  wrought  upon 
those  who  are  said  to  have  been  possessed.  The  malady 
was  real,  the  cure  was  real,  whether  the  popular  explication  of 
the  cause  was  well  founded,  or  not.  The  matter  of  fact,  the 
change,  so  far  as  it  was  an  object  of  sense,  or  of  testimony,  was 
in  either  case  the  same. 

Secondly,  that,  in  reading  the  apostolic  writings,  we  distin- 
guish between  their  doctrines  and  their  arguments.  Their 
doctrines  came  to  them  by  revelation  properly  so  called ;  yet 
in  propounding  these  doctrines  in  their  writings  or  discourses, 
they  were  wont  to  illustrate,  support,  and  enforce  them,  by 
such  analogies,  arguments,  and  considerations  as  their  own 
thoughts  suggested.  Thus  the  call  of  the  Gentiles,  that  is,  the 
admission  of  the  Gentiles  to  the  christian  profession  without  a 
previous  subjection  to  the  law  of  Moses,  was  imparted  to  the 
apostles  by  revelation,  and  was  attested  by  the  miracles  which 
attended  the  christian  ministry  amongst  them.  The.  apostle's 
own  assurance  of  the  matter  rested  upon  this  foundation. 
Nevertheless,  St.  Paul,  when  treating  of  the  subject,  offers  a 
great  variety  of  topics  in  its  proof  and  vindication.  The  doc- 
trine itself  must  be  received  ;  but  is  it  necessary,  in  order  to 
defend  Christianity,  to  defend  the  propriety  of  every  com- 
parison, or  the  validity  of  every  argument,  which  the  apostle 
has  brought  into  the  discussion  ?  The  same  observation 
applies  to  some  other  instances  ;  and  is,  in  my  opinion,  very 
well  founded.  '  When  divine  writers  argue  upon  any  point,  we 
are  always  bound  to  believe  the  conclusions  that  their  reason- 
ings end  in,  as  parts  of  divine  revelation  ;  but  we  are  not  bound 
to  be  able  to  make  out,  or  even  to  assent  to,  all  the  premises 
made  use  of  by  them,  in  their  whole  extent,  unless  it  appear 
plainly,  that  they  affirm  the  premises  as  expressly  as  they  do 
the  conclusions  proved  by  them.'1 

1  Burnet's  Expos,  ait.  G. 


Cli.  iii.]    Connection  of  Christianity  with  Jewish  History.     343 

ANNOTATION. 

'Demoniacal  possession  is  one  of  these  points.'' 

Paley's  reasoning  on  this  point  does  not  appear  to  me  satis- 
factory. The  whole  question  is  fully  treated  in  the  Lectures 
on  Good  and  Evil  Angels. 


CHAPTER  III. 

The  Connection  of  Christianity  with  the  Jewish  History. 

UNDOUBTEDLY,  our  Saviour  assumes  the  divine  origin  of 
the  Mosaic  institution :  and,  independently  of  his  author- 
ity, I  conceive  it  to  be  very  difficult  to  assign  any  other  cause  for 
the  commencement  or  existence  of  that  institution  ;  especially 
for  the  singular  circumstance  of  the  Jews  adhering  to  the  unity, 
when  every  other  people  slid  into  polytheism ;  for  their  being 
men  in  religion,  children  in  every  thing  else ;  behind  other 
nations  in  the  arts  of  peace  and  war,  superior  to  the  most  im- 
proved in  their  sentiments  and  doctrines  relating  to  the  deity.1 
Undoubtedly  also,  our  Saviour  recognizes  the  prophetic  char- 
acter of  many  of  their  ancient  writers.  So  far,  therefore,  we 
are  bound  as  Christians  to  go.  But  to  make  Christianity 
answerable  with  its  life,  for  the  circumstantial  truth  of  each 
separate  passage  of  the  Old  Testament,  the  genuineness  of 
every  book,  the  information,  fidelity,  and  judgment  of  every 

1  '  In  the  doctrine,  for  example,  of  the  unity,  the  eternity,  the  omnipotence, 
the  omniscience,  the  omnipresence,  the  wisdom,  and  the  goodness  of  God  ;  in 
their  opinions  concerning  providence,  and  the  creation,  preservation,  and  gov- 
ernment of  the  world.' — Campbell  on  Mir.  p.  207.  To  which  we  may  add,  in  the 
acts  of  their  religion  not  being  accompanied  either  with  cruelties  or  impurities  ; 
in  the  religion  itself  being  free  from  a  species  of  superstition  which  prevailed 
universally  in  the  popular  religions  of  the  ancient  world,  and  which  is  to  be 
found  perhaps  in  all  religions  that  have  their  origin  in  human  artifice  and  cre- 
dulity, viz.  fanciful  connections  between  certain  appearances,  and  actions,  and 
the  destiny  of  nations  or  individuals.  Upon  these  conceits  rested  the  whole  train 
of  auguries  and  auspices,  which  formed  so  much  even  of  the  serious  part  of  the 
religions  of  Greece  and  Rome,  and  of  the  charms  and  incantations  which  were 
practised  in  those  countries  by  the  common  people.  From  every  thing  of  this 
sort  the  religion  of  the  Jews,  and  of  the  Jews  alone,  was  free. — Vide  Priestley's 
Lectures  on  (he  Truth  of  the  Jewish  and  Cliristian  Revelation,  1794. 


3-1:4  Evidences  of  Christianity.  [Part  III. 

writer  in  it,  is  to  bring,  I  will  not  say  great,  but  unnecessary 
difficulties,  into  the  whole  system.  These  books  were  univer- 
sally read  and  received  by  the  Jews  of  our  Saviour's  time.  He 
and  his  apostles,  in  common  with  all  other  Jews,  referred  to 
them,  alluded  to  them,  used  them.  Yet,  except  where  he  ex- 
pressly ascribes  a  divine  authority  to  particular  predictions,  I 
do  not  know  that  we  can  strictly  draw  any  conclusion  from  the 
books  being  so  used  and  applied,  beside  the  proof,  which  it  un- 
questionably is,  of  their  notoriety  and  reception  at  that  time. 
In  this  view  our  scriptures  afford  a  valuable  testimony  to  those 
of  the  Jews.  But  the  nature  of  this  testimony  ought  to  be 
understood.  It  is  surely  very  different  from,  what  it  is  some- 
times represented  to  be,  a  specific  ratification  of  each  particu- 
lar fact  and  opinion ;  and  not  only  of  each  particular  fact, 
but  of  the  motives  assigned  for  every  action,  together  with  the 
judgment  of  praise  or  dispraise  bestowed  upon  them.  St. 
James,  in  his  epistle,1  says,  'Ye  have  heard  of  the  patience  of 
Job,  and  have  seen  the  end  of  the  Lord.'  Notwithstanding 
this  text,  the  reality  of  Job's  history,  and  even  the  existence  of 
such  a  person,  has  been  always  deemed  a  fair  subject  «f  in- 
quiry and  discussion  amongst  christian  divines.  St.  James's 
authority  is  considered  as  good  evidence  of  the  existence  of 
the  book  of  Job  at  that  time,  and  of  its  reception  by  the  Jews, 
and  of  nothing  more.  St.  Paul,  in  his  second  epistle  to  Timo- 
thy j2  has  this  similitude:  'Now,  as  Jannes  and  Jambres  with- 
stood Moses,  so  do  these  also  resist  the  truth.'  These  names 
are  not  found  in  the  Old  Testament.  And  it  is  uncertain, 
whether  St.  Paul  took  them  from  some  apocryphal  writing 
then  extant,  or  from  tradition.  But  no  one  ever  imagined, 
that  St.  Paul  is  here  asserting  the  authority  of  the  writing, 
if  it  was  a  written  account  which  he  quoted,  or  making  him- 
self answerable  for  the  authenticity  of  the  tradition  ;  much 
less,  that  he  so  involves  himself  with  either  of  these  questions 
as  that  the  credit  of  his  own  history  and  mission  should  de- 
pend upon  the  fact,  whether  'Jannes  and  Jambres  withstood 
Moses,  or  not.'  For  what  reason  a  more  rigorous  interpretation 
should  be  put  upon  other  references,  it  is  difficult  to  know.  I 
do  not  mean,  that  other  passages  of  the  Jewish  history  stand 

'  V.  11.  -  Ch.  iii    8. 


Chap.  iii.J  Annotation.  345 

upon  no  better  evidence  than  the  history  of  Job,  or  of  Jannes 
and  Jambres  (I  think  much  otherwise);  but  1  mean,  that  a 
reference  in  the  New  Testament,  to  a  passage  in  the  Old,  does 
not  so  fix  its  authority,  as  to  exclude  all  inquiry  into  its  credi- 
bility, or  into  the  separate  reasons  upon  which  that  credibility 
is  founded ;  and  that  it  is  an  unwarrantable,  as  well  as  unsafe 
rule  to  lay  down  concerning  the  Jewish  history,  what  was 
never  laid  down  concerning  any  other,  that  either  every  par- 
ticular of  it  must  be  true,  or  the  whole  false. 

I  have  thought  it  necessary  to  state  this  point  explicitly,  be- 
cause a  fashion  revived  by  Voltaire,  and  pursued  by  the  dis- 
ciples of  his  school,  seems  to  have  much  prevailed  of  late,  of 
attacking  Christianity  through  the  sides  of  Judaism.  Some 
objections  of  this  class  are  founded  in  misconstruction,  some  in 
exaggeration ;  but  all  proceed  upon  a  supposition,  which  has 
not  been  made  out  by  argument,  viz.,  that  the  attestation, 
which  the  author  and  first  teachers  of  Christianity  gave  to  the 
divine  mission  of  Moses  and  the  prophets,  extends  to  every 
point  and  portion  of  the  Jewish  history ;  and  so  extends,  as  to 
make  Christianity  responsible  in  its  own  credibility,  for  the 
circumstantial  truth,  I  had  almost  said  for  the  critical  exact- 
ness, of  every  narrative  contained  in  the  Old  Testament 


ANNOTATION. 

'  Our  Saviour  assumes  the  Divine  Origin  of  the  Mosaic 

Institution.'' 

There  are  some  men  so  impatient  of  some  evil, — real  or 
imaginary, — that,  in  their  eagerness  to  escape  from  it,  they  heed- 
lessly rush  into  another,  that  is  perhaps  worse  :  and  when  they 
meet  with  a  difficulty  in  some  system  or  statement,  they  at  once 
reject  the  whole  ;  and  have  perhaps  to  encounter  some  much 
greater  difficulty  which  attends  that  rejection.  They  often  re- 
semble the  deer  described  by  Yirgil  (in  his  allusion  to  a  mode  of 
hunting  practised  in  his  time),  which  were  driven  within  reach  of 
the  hunter,  by  their  dread  of  fluttering  feathers  hung  on  a  string. 

Difficulties  there  certainly  are,  in  several  parts  of  the  Old 
Testament.     Then  let  us  get  rid  of  them  all,  by  at  once  reject- 


3-16  Evidences  of  Christianity.  [Part  III. 

ing  it  all,  and  admitting  only  the  New  Testament.  Thus  we 
have  to  receive  as  a  divine  revelation  what  is  in  great  measure 
based  on  the  Old  Testament,  and  a  sequel  to  it; — a  sequel, 
that  is,  to  a  string  of  childish  and  worthless  legends.  This  is 
a  greater  difficulty.  To  escape  this,  let  us  explain  away  the 
New  Testament  also,  and  speak  of  the  whole  Bible  as  'one 
great  Parable.' '  That  is,  we  are  to  receive  as  a  divine  revela- 
tion, what,  in  fact,  reveals  nothing;  and  indeed,  less  than 
nothing;  since  it  was  understood — and  was  sure  to  be  under- 
stood— for  many  ages,  in  a  sense  quite  remote  from  the  truth. 
It  does  not  merely  leave  us  in  the  dark,  but  misleads  us  by  a  false 
light.  This  is  a  still  greater  difficulty.  Let  us  then  adopt  the 
hypothesis  that  Jesus  was  merely  a  wise  philosopher,  like  Socrates 
and  Confucius,  and  was  no  otherwise  sent  from  Heaven  than 
they  were.  Thousands,  we  are  to  suppose,  eagerly  listened  to, 
and  admired,  the  moral  discourses  of  the  reputed  '  carpenter's 
Son ;'  though  the  tone  of  his  morality  was  quite  opposite  to 
what  they  had  been  trained  from  their  youth  to  adopt  and 
reverence.  Their  admiration  was  so  great  that  they  attributed 
to  Him  miracles,  though  He  wrought  none,  and  judged  Him 
to  be  their  long-expected  Messiah,  though  his  whole  character 
and  that  of  his  kingdom  were  far  remote  from  all  their  expec- 
tations and  wishes.  And  so  it  came  to  pass  that  a  Galilean 
peasant  overthrew  the  religions  of  the  world,  and  established 
his  own,  throughout  all  the  most  civilized  nations  ! 

As  was  justly  remarked  many  ages  ago,  the  establishing  of 
Christianity  without  miracles — of  a  religion  based  on  an  appeal 
to  miracles,  which  were  never  wrought — would  be  a,  far  greater 
wonder  than  all  the  Scripture-miracles  put  together. 

At  every  escape  from  one  difficulty,  there  is  a  plunge  into 
another. 

Such  theorists  remind  one  of  the  story  that  is  told,  of  a  gen- 
tleman who  was  about  to  pull  down  an  old  family  mansion, 
and  build  a  new  one,  and  was  at  a  loss  how  to  get  rid  of  the 
rubbish, — the  cast-off  materials  of  the  old  house.  His  bailiff 
suggested  to  him  to  dig  a  pit  and  bury  them.  'But  what  shall 
1  then  do  with  the  earth  that  comes  out  of  the  pit?'  '  Oh,'  said 
the  other,  'make  the  pit  big  enough  to  hold  all!' 

1  As  6ome  of  the  Tract-school  have  done. 


Chap,  vi.]  Rejection  of  Christian it ij.  347 

Tain  are  the  endeavors  to  make  a  pit  that  will  hold  not  only- 
all  the  difficulties  of  the  Bible,  but  also  all  the  difficulties  of 
every  hypothesis  on  which  it  is  rejected. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

Rejection  of  Christianity. 


WE  acknowledge  that  the  christian  religion,  although  it  con- 
verted great  numbers,  did  not  produce  an  universal  or 
even  a  general  conviction  in  the  minds  of  men,  of  the  age  and 
countries  in  which  it  appeared.  And  this  want  of  a  more 
complete  and  extensive  success,  is  called  the  rejection  of  the 
christian  history  and  miracles  ;  and  has  been  thought,  by  some, 
to  form  a  strong  objection  to  the  reality  of  the  facts  which  the 
history  contains. 

The  matter  of  the  objection  divides  itself  into  two  parts,  as 
it  relates  to  the  Jews,  and  as  it  relates  to  Heathen  nations ; 
because  the  minds  of  these  two  descriptions  of  men  may  have 
been,  with  respect  to  Christianity,  under  the  influence  of  very 
different  causes.  The  case  of  the  Jews,  inasmuch  as  our  Sa- 
vior's ministry  was  originally  adressed  to  them,  offers  itself  first 
to  our  consideration. 

!STow,  upon  the  subject  of  the  truth  of  the  christian  religion, 
with  us  there  is  but  one  question,  viz.,  whether  the  miracles 
were  actually  wrought  ?  From  acknowledging  the  miracles  we 
pass  instantaneously  to  the  acknowledgment  of  the  whole.  No 
doubt  lies  between  the  premises  and  the  conclusion.  If  we  be- 
lieve the  works,  or  any  one  of  them,  we  believe  in  Jesus.  And 
this  order  of  reasoning  is  become  so  universal  and  familiar, 
that  we  do  not  readily  apprehend  how  it  could  ever  have  been 
otherwise.  Yet  it  appears  to  me  perfectly  certain,  that  the 
state  of  thought,  in  the  mind  of  a  Jew  of  our  Saviour's  age, 
was  totally  different  from  this.  After  allowing  the  reality  of 
the  miracle,  he  had  a  great  deal  to  do  to  persuade  himself  that 
Jesus  was  the  Messiah.  This  is  clearly  intimated  by  various 
passages  of  the  gospel  history.  It  appears  that,  in  the  appre- 
hension of  the  writers  of  the  New  Testament,  the  miracles  did 


348  Evidences  of  Christianity.  [Part  III. 

not  irresistibly  cany,  even  those  who  saw  them,  to  the  conclu- 
sion intended  to  be  drawn  from  them ;  or  so  compel  assent 
as  to  leave  no  room  for  suspense,  for  the  exercise  of  candor, 
or  the  effects  of  prejudice.  And  to  this  point,  at  least,  the 
evangelists  may  be  allowed  to  be  good  witnesses  ;  because  it  is 
a  point,  in  which  exaggeration  or  disguise  would  have  been  the 
other  way.  Their  accounts,  if  they  could  be  suspected  of  false- 
hood, would  rather  have  magnified,  than  diminished,  the  effects 
of  the  miracles. 

John  vii.  21-31:  'Jesus  answered,  and  said  unto  them,  I 
have  done  one  work,  and  ye  all  marvel — If  a  man  on  the  Sab- 
bath-day receive  circumcision,  that  the  law  of  Moses  should 
not  be  broken,  are  ye  angry  at  me,  because  I  have  made  a 
man  every  whit  whole  on  the  Sabbath-day  ?  Judge  not  ac- 
cording to  the  appearance,  but  judge  righteous  judgment.  Then 
said  some  of  them  of  Jerusalem,  Is  not  this  he  whom  they  seek 
to  kill  ?  but  lo,  he  speaketh  boldly,  and  they  say  nothing  to 
him;  do  the  rulers  know  indeed  that  this  is  the  very  Christ? 
Howbeit  we  know  this  man,  whence  he  is  j  hut  when  Christ 
cometh,  no  man  knoweth  whence  he  is.  Then  cried  Jesus  in  the 
temple  as  he  taught  saying,  Ye  both  know  me,  and  ye\know 
whence  I  am  ;  and  I  am  not  come  of  myself,  but  he  that  sent 
me  is  true,  whom  ye  know  not ;  but  I  know  him,  for  I  am 
from  him,  and  he  hath  sent  me.  Then  they  sought  to  take 
him,  but  no  man  laid  hands  on  him,  because  his  hour  was  not 
yet  come  ;  and  many  of  the  people  believed  on  him,  and  said, 
When  Christ  cometh,  will  he  do  more  miracles  than  those 
vjhich  this  man  hath  done  V 

This  passage  is  very  observable.  It  exhibits  the  reasoning 
of  different  sorts  of  persons  upon  the  occasion  of  a  miracle, 
which  persons  of  all  sorts  are  represented  to  have  acknowledged 
as  real.  One  sort  of  men  thought,  that  there  was  something 
very  extraordinary  in  all  this ;  but  that  still  Jesus  could  not 
be  the  Christ,  because  there  was  a  circumstance  in  his  appear- 
ance, which  militated  with  an  opinion  concerning  Christ,  in 
which  they  had  been  brought  up,  and  of  the  truth  of  which, 
it  is  probable,  they  had  never  entertained  a  particle  of  doubt, 
viz.  that  'when  Christ  cometh,  no  man  knoweth  whence  he 
is.'  Another  sort  wTere  inclined  to  believe  him  to  be  the 
Messiah.     But  even  these  did  not  argue  as  we  should  ;  did  not 


Chap.  iv.J  Rejection  of  Christianity.  349 

consider  the  miracle  as  of  itself  decisive  of  the  question,  as 
what,  if  once  allowed,  excluded  all  further  debate  upon  the 
subject,  but  founded  their  opinion  upon  a  kind  of  comparative 
reasoning,  '  When  Christ  cometh,  will  he  do  more  miracles  than 
those  which  this  man  hath  done  V 

Another  passage  in  the  same  evangelist,  and  observable  for 
the  same  purpose,  is  that  in  which  he  relates  the  resurrection 
of  Lazarus:  'Jesus,'  he  tells  us  [xi.  43,  44],  'when  he  had 
thus  spoken,  cried  with  a  loud  voice,  Lazarus,  come  forth ;  and 
he  that  was  dead  came  forth,  bound  hand  and  foot  with,  grave 
clothes,  and  his  face  was  bound  about  with  a  napkin.  Jesus 
saith  unto  them,  Loose  him  and  let  him  go.'  One  might  have 
expected,  that  at  least  all  those  who  stood  by  the  sepulchre, 
when  Lazarus  was  raised,  would  have  believed  in  Jesus.  Yet 
the  evangelist  does  not  so  represent  it.  'Then  many  of  the 
Jews  which  came  to  Mary,  and  had  seen  the  things  which 
Jesus  did,  believed  on  him  ;  but  some  of  them  went  their  ways 
to  the  Pharisees,  and  told  them  what  things  Jesus  had  done.' 
We  cannot  suppose  that  the  evangelist  meant,  by  this  account, 
to  leave  his  readers  to  imagine  that  any  of  the  spectators 
doubted  about  the  truth  of  the  miracle.  Far  from  it.  Un- 
questionably, he  states  the  miracle  to  have  been  fully  allowed  : 
yet  the  persons  who  allowed  it  were,  according  to  his  repre- 
sentation, capable  of  retaining  hostile  sentiments  towards 
Jesus.  '  Believing  in  Jesus'  was  not  only  to  believe  that  he 
wrought  miracles,  but  that  he  was  the  Messiah.  With  us  there 
is  no  difference  between  these  two  things ;  with  them  there  was 
the  greatest.  And  the  difference  is  apparent  in  this  transac- 
tion. If  St.  John  has  represented  the  conduct  of  the  Jews 
upon  this  occasion  truly  (and  why  he  should  not  I  cannot  tell, 
for  it  rather  makes  against  him  than  for  him),  it  shows  clearly 
the  principles  upon  which  their  judgment  proceeded.  Whether 
he  has  related  the  matter  truly  or  not,  the  relation  itself  dis- 
covers the  writer's  own  opinion  of  those  principles,  and  that 
alone  possesses  considerable  authority.  In  the  next  chapter, 
we  have  a  reflection  of  the  evangelist,  entirely  suited  to  this 
state  of  the  case ;  '  but  though  he  had  done  so  many  miracles 
before  them,  yet  believed  they  not  on  him.' l     The  evangelist 


1  Ch.  xii.  37. 


350  Evidences  of  Christianity.  [Part  III. 

does  not  mean  to  impute  the  defect  of  their  belief  to  any 
doubt  about  the  miracles,  but  to  their  not  perceiving,  what 
all  now  sufficiently  perceive,  and  what  they  would  have  per- 
ceived had  not  their  understandings  been  governed  by  strong 
prejudices,  the  infallible  attestation  which  the  works  of  Jesus 
bore  to  the  truth  of  his  pretensions. 

The  ninth  chapter  of  St.  John's  gospel  contains  a  very  cir- 
cumstantial account  of  the  cure  of  a  blind  man  ;  a  miracle  sub- 
mitted to  all  the  scrutiny  and  examination  which  a  skeptic 
could  propose.  If  a  modern  unbeliever  had  drawn  up  the  in- 
terrogatories, they  could  hardly  have  been  more  critical  or 
searching.  The  account  contains  also  a  very  curious  confer- 
ence between  the  Jewish  rulers  and  the  patient,  in  which  the 
point  for  our  present  notice,  is  their  resistance  of  the  force  of 
the  miracle,  and  of  the  conclusion  to  which  it  led,  after  they 
had  failed  in  discrediting  its  evidence.  '  We  know  that  God 
spake  unto  Moses,  but  as  for  this  fellow,  we  know  not  whence 
he  is.'  That  was  the  answer  which  set  their  minds  at  rest. 
And  by  the  help  of  much  prejudice,  and  great  unwillingness  to 
yield,  it  might  do  so.  In  the  mind  of  the  poor  man"  restored 
to  sight,  which  was  under  no  such  bias,  felt  no  such  reluctance, 
the  miracle  had  its  natural  operation.  '  Herein  [says  hej  is  a 
marvellous  thing,  that  ye  know  not  from  whence  he  is,  yet  he 
hath  opened  mine  eyes.  Now  we  know  that  God  heareth  not 
sinners :  but  if  any  man  be  a  worshipper  of  God,  and  doeth  his 
will,  him  he  heareth.  Since  the  world  began  was  it  not  heard, 
that  any  man  opened  the  eyes  of  one  that  was  born  blind.  If 
this  man  were  not  of  God,  he  could  do  nothing.'  We  do  not 
find  that  the  Jewish  rulers  had  any  other  reply  to  make  to  this 
defence,  than  that  which  authority  is  sometimes  apt  to  make 
to  argument,  '  Dost  thou  teach  us?' 

If  it  shall  be  inquired  how  a  turn  of  thought,  so  different 
from  what  prevails  at  present,  should  obtain  currency  with  the 
ancient  Jews,  the  answer  is  found  in  two  opinions,  which  are 
proved  to  have  subsisted  in  that  age  and  country.  The  one 
was,  their  expectation  of  a  Messiah  of  a  kind  totally  contrary 
to  what  the  appearance  of  Jesus  bespoke  him  to  be ;  the  other, 
their  persuasion  of  the  agency  of  demons  in  the  production  of 
supernatural  effects.  These  opinions  are  not  m apposed  by  us 
for  the  purpose  of  argument,  but  are  evidently  recognized  in 


Chap,  iv.]  Rejection  of  Christianity.  351 

the  Jewish  writings,  as  well  as  in  ours.  And  it  ought,  more- 
over, to  be  considered,  that  in  these  opinions  the  Jews  of  that 
age  had  been  from  their  infancy  brought  up  ;  that  they  were 
opinions,  the  grounds  of  which  they  had  probably  few  of  them 
inquired  into,  and  of  the  truth  of  which  they  entertained  no 
doubt.  And  I  think  that  these  two  opinions  conjointly  afford 
an  explanation  of  their  conduct.  The  first  put  them  upon 
seeking  out  some  excuse  to  themselves  for  not  receiving  Jesus 
in  the  character  in  which  he  claimed  to  be  received  ;  and  the 
second  supplied  them  with  just  such  an  excuse  as  they  wanted. 
Let  Jesus  work  what  miracles  he  would,  still  the  answer  was  in 
readiness,  '  that  he  wrought  them  by  the  assistance  of  Beelze- 
bub.' And  to  this  answer  no  reply  could  be  made,  but  that 
which  our  Saviour  did  make,  by  showing  that  the  tendency  of 
his  mission  was  so  adverse  to  the  views  with  which  this  Being 
was,  by  the  objectors  themselves,  supposed  to  act,  that  it  could 
not  reasonably  be  supposed  that  he  would  assist  in  carrying  it 
on.  The  power  displayed  in  the  miracles  did  not  alone  refute 
the  Jewish  solution,  because  the  interposition  of  invisible  agents 
being  once  admitted,  it  is  impossible  to  ascertain  the  limits  by 
which  their  efficiency  is  circumscribed.  We  of  this  day  may 
be  disposed,  possibly,  to  think  such  opinions  too  absurd  to  have 
been  ever  seriously  entertained.  I  am  not  bound  to  contend 
for  the  credibility  of  the  opinions.  They  wTere  at  least  as  rea- 
sonable as  the  belief  in  witchcraft.  They  were  opinions  in 
which  the  Jews  of  that  age  had  from  their  infancy  been  in- 
structed ;  and  those  who  cannot  see  enough  in  the  force  of 
this  reason,  to  account  for  their  conduct  towards  our  Saviour, 
do  not  sufficiently  consider  how  such  opinions  may  sometimes 
become  very  general  in  a  country,  and  with  what  pertinacity, 
when  once  become  so,  they  are,  for  that  reason  alone,  adhered 
to.  In  the  suspense  which  these  notions,  and  the  prejudices 
resulting  from  them,  might  occasion,  the  candid  and  docile  and 
humble-minded  would  probably  decide  in  Christ's  favor ;  the 
proud  and  obstinate,  together  with  the  giddy  and  the  thought- 
less, almost  universally  against  him. 

This  state  of  opinion  discovers  to  us  also  the  reason  of  what 
some  choose  to  wonder  at,  why  the  Jews  should  reject  miracles 
when  they  saw  them,  yet  rely  so  much  upon  the  tradition  of 
them   in  their  own  history.     It  does  not  appear  that  it  had 


352  Evidences  of  Christianity.  [Part  III. 

ever  entered  into  the  minds  of  those  who  lived  in  the  time  of 
Moses  and  the  Prophets,  to  ascribe  their  miracles  to  the  super- 
natural agency  of  evil  Beings.  The  solution  was  not  then  in- 
vented.  And  the  authority  of  Moses  and  the  Prophets  being 
established,  and  become  the  foundation  of  the  national  policy 
and  religion,  it  was  not  probable  that  the  later  Jews,  brought 
up  in  a  reverence  for  that  religion,  and  the  subjects  of  that 
policy,  should  apply  to  their  history  a  reasoning  which  tended 
to  overthrow  the  foundation  of  both. 

II.  The  infidelity  of  the  Gentile  world,  and  that  more  espe- 
cially of  men  of  rank  and  learning  in  it,  is  resolvable  into  a 
principle  which,  in  my  judgment,  will  account  for  the  inefficacy 
of  any  argument  or  any  evidence  whatever,  viz.  contempt  prior 
to  examination.  The  state  of  religion  amongst  the  Greeks  and 
Romans  had  a  natural  tendency  to  induce  this  disposition. 
Dionysius  Halicarnassensis  remarks,  that  there  were  six  hun- 
dred different  kinds  of  religions  or  sacred  rites  exercised  at 
Rome.1  The  superior  classes  of  the  community  treated  them 
all  as  fables.  Can  we  wonder,  then,  that  Christianity  was  in- 
cluded in  the  number,  without  inquiry  into  its  separate  merits, 
or  the  particular  grounds  of  its  pretensions  ?  It  might  be  either 
true  or  false  for  any  thing  they  knew  about  it.  The  religion 
had  nothing  in  its  character  which  immediately  engaged  their 
notice.  It  mixed  with  no  politics.  It  produced  no  tine  writers. 
It  contained  no  curious  speculations.  When  it  did  reach  their 
knowledge,  I  doubt  not  but  that  it  appeared  to  them  a  very 
strange  system — so  unphilosophical — dealing  so  little  in  argu- 
ment and  discussion,  in  such  arguments,  however,  and  discus- 
sions as  they  were  accustomed  to  entertain.  What  is  said  of 
Jesus  Christ,  of  his  nature,  office,  and  ministry,  would  be,  in 
the  highest  degree,  alien  from  the  conceptions  of  their  theology. 
The  Redeemer,  and  the  destined  judge,  of  the  human  race,  a 
poor  young  man  executed  at  Jerusalem  with  two  thieves  upon  a 
cross !  Still  more  would  the  language,  in  which  the  christian 
doctrine  was  delivered,  be  dissonant  and  barbarous  to  their 
ears.  What  knew  they  of  grace,  of  redemption,  of  justification, 
of  the  blood  of  Christ  shed  for  the  sons  of  men,  of  recoucile- 


»  Joi  tin's  Remarks  on  Eccl.  Hist   vol.  i.  p.  371. 


Chap,  iv.]  Rejection  of  Christianity.  353 

ment,  of  mediation  ?  Christianity  was  made  up  of  points  they 
had  never  thought  of ;  of  terms  which  they  had  never  heard. 

It  was  presented  also  to  the  imagination  of  the  learned 
heathen,  under  additional  disadvantage,  by  reason  of  its  real, 
and  still  more  of  its  nominal,  connection  with  Judaism.  It 
shared  in  the  obloquy  and  ridicule,  with  which  that  people  and 
their  religion  were  treated  by  the  Greeks  and  Romans.  They 
regarded  Jehovah  himself  only  as  the  idol  of  the  Jewish  nation, 
and  what  was  related  of  him,  as  of  a  piece  with  what  was  told 
of  the  tutelar  deities  of  other  countries  ;  nay,  the  Jews  were  in 
a  particular  manner  ridiculed  for  being  a  credulous  race ;  so 
that  whatever  reports  of  a  miraculous  nature  came  out  of  that 
country,  were  looked  upon  by  the  heathen  world  as  false  and 
frivolous.  "When  they  heard  of  Christianity,  they  heard  of  it 
as  a  quarrel  amongst  this  people,  about  some  articles  of  their 
own  superstition.  Despising,  therefore,  as  they  did,  the  whole 
system,  it  was  not  probable  that  they  would  enter,  with  any 
degree  of  seriousness  or  attention,  into  the  detail  of  its  disputes, 
or  the  merits  of  either  side.  How  little  they  knew,  and  with 
what  carelessness  they  judged,  of  these  matters,  appears,  I 
think,  pretty  plainly  from  an  example  of  no  less  weight  than 
that  of  Tacitus,  who,  in  a  grave  and  professed  discourse  upon 
the  history  of  the  Jews,  states,  that  they  worshipped  the  effigy 
of  an  ass.1  The  passage  is  a  proof  how  prone  the  learned  men 
of  these  times  were,  and  upon  how  little  evidence,  to  heap 
together  stories  which  might  increase  the  contempt  and  odium 
in  which  that  people  was  held.  The  same  foolish  charge  is  also 
confidently  repeated  by  Plutarch.2 

It  is  observable,  that  all  these  considerations  are  of  a  nature 
to  operate  with  the  greatest  force  upon  the  highest  ranks  ;  upon 
men  of  education,  and  that  order  of  the  public  from  which 
writers  are  principally  taken  :  I  may  add  also,  upon  the  philo- 
sophical as  well  as  the  libertine  character  :  upon  the  Antonines 
or  Julian,  not  less  than  upon  Nero  or  Domitian ;  and  more 
particularly,  upon  that  large  and  polished  class  of  men,  who 
acquiesced  in  the  general  persuasion,  that  all  they  had  to  do  was 
to  practise  the  duties  of  morality,  and  to  worship  the  deity 
more  patrio  /  a  habit  of  thinking,  liberal  as  it  may  appear, 


'  Tac.  Hist.  lib.  v.  ch.  ii.  2  Sympos.  lib.  iv.  ques.  5. 

23 


354  Evidences  of  Christianity.  [Part  III. 

which  shuts  the  door  against  every  argument  for  a  new  religion. 
The  considerations  above  mentioned  would  acquire  also  strength 
from  the  prejudice  which  men  of  rank  and  learning  universally 
entertain  against  any  thing  that  originates  with  the  vulgar  and 
illiterate ;  which  prejudice  is  known  to  be  as  obstinate  as  any 
prejudice  whatever. 

Yet  Christianity  was  still  making  its  way ;  and,  amidst  so 
many  impediments  to  its  progress,  so  much  difficulty  in  pro- 
curing audience  and  attention,  its  actual  success  is  more  to  be 
wondered  at,  than  that  it  should  not  have  universally  con- 
quered scorn  and  indifference,  fixed  the  levity  of  a  voluptuous 
age,  or  through  a  cloud  of  adverse  prejudications,  opened  for 
itself  a  passage  to  the  hearts  and  understandings  of  the  scholars 
of  the  age. 

And  the  cause  which  is  here  assigned  for  the  rejection  of 
Christianity  by  men  of  rank  and  learning  among  the  heathens, 
namely,  a  strong  antecedent  contempt,  accounts  also  for  their 
silence  concerning  it.  If  they  had  rejected  it  upon  examination, 
they  would  have  written  about  it.  They  would  have  given 
their  reasons.  Whereas  what  men  repudiate  upon  the  strength 
of  some  prefixed  persuasion,  or  from  a  settled  contempt^of  the 
subject,  of  the  persons  who  propose  it,  or  of  the  manner  in 
which  it  is  proposed,  they  do  not  naturally  write  books  about, 
or  notice  much  in  what  they  write  upon  other  subjects. 

The  letters  of  the  younger  Pliny  furnish  an  example  of  this 
silence,  and  let  us,  in  some  measure,  into  the  cause  of  it.  From 
his  celebrated  correspondence  with  Trajan, we  know  that  the 
christian  religion  prevailed  in  a  very  considerable  degree  in  the 
province  over  which  he  presided  ;  that  it  had  excited  his  atten- 
tion ;  that  he  had  inquired  into  the  matter,  just  so  much  as  a 
Roman  magistrate  might  be  expected  to  inquire,  viz.,  whether 
the  religion  contained  any  opinions  dangerous  to  government; 
but  that  of  its  doctrines,  its  evidences,  or  its  books,  he  had  not 
taken  the  trouble  to  inform  himself  with  any  degree  of  care  or 
correctness.  But  although  Pliny  had  viewed  Christianity  in  a 
nearer  position,  than  most  of  his  learned  countrymen  saw  it  in  ; 
yet  he  had  regarded  the  whole  with  such  negligence  and  disdain 
(farther  than  as  it  seemed  to  concern  his  administration),  that, 
in  more  than  two  hundred  and  forty  letters  of  his  which  have 
come  down  to  us,  the  subject  is  never  once  again  mentioned. 


Chap,  iv.]  Rejection  of  Christianity.  355 

If  out  of  this  number  the  two  letters  between  him  and  Trajan 
had  been  lost,  with  what  confidence  would  the  obscurity  of  the 
christian  religion  have  been  argued  from  Pliny's  silence  about 
it,  and  with  how  little  truth  ! 

The  name  and  character  which  Tacitus  has  given  to  Chris- 
tianity, '  exitiabilis  superstitio'  (a  pernicious  superstition),  and 
by  which  two  words  he  disposes  of  the  whole  question  of  the 
merits  or  demerits  of  the  religion,  afford  a  strong  proof  how 
little  he  knew,  or  concerned  himself  to  know,  about  the  matter. 
I  apprehend  that  I  shall  not  be  contradicted,  when  I  take  upon 
me  to  assert,  that  no  unbeliever  of  the  present  age  would  apply 
this  epithet  to  the  Christianity  of  the.  New  Testament,  or  not 
allow  that  it  was  entirely  unmerited.  Read  the  instructions 
given,  by  a  great  teacher  of  the  religion,  to  those  very  Roman 
converts,  of  whom  Tacitus  speaks  ;  and  given  also  a  very  few 
years  before  the  time  of  which  he  is  speaking ;  and  which  are 
not,  let  it  be  observed,  a  collection  of  fine  sayings  brought 
together  from  different  parts  of  a  large  work,  but  stand  in  one 
entire  passage  of  a  public  letter,  without  the  intermixture  of  a 
single  thought  which  is  frivolous  or  exceptionable.  'Abhor 
that  which  is  evil,  cleave  to  that  which  is  good.  Be  kindly 
affectioned  one  to  another,  with  brotherly  love,  in  honor  pre- 
ferring one  another.  ISTot  slothful  in  business,  fervent  in  spirit, 
serving  the  Lord,  rejoicing  in  hope,  patient  in  tribulation,  con- 
tinuing instant  in  prayer,  distributing  to  the  necessity  of  saints, 
given  to  hospitality.  Bless  them  which  persecute  you  ;  bless 
and  curse  not :  rejoice  with  them  that  do  rejoice,  and  weep 
with  them  that  weep.  Be  of  the  same  mind  one  towards 
another;  mind  not  high  things,  but  condescend  to  men  of  low 
estate.  Be  not  wise  in  your  own  conceits.  Recompense  to  no 
man  evil  for  evil.  Provide  things  honest  in  the  sight  of  all 
men.  If  it  be  possible,  as  much  as  lieth  in  you,  live  peaceably 
with  all  men.  Avenge  not  yourselves,  but  rather  give  place 
unto  wrath  ;  for  it  is  written,  Vengeance  is  mine  !  I  will  re^ay, 
saith  the  Lord :  therefore,  if  thine  enemy  hunger,  feed  him ; 
if  he  thirst,  give  him  drink  ;  for  in  so  doing,  thou  shalt  heap 
coals  of  fire  on  his  head.  Be  not  overcome  of  evil,  but  over- 
come evil  with  good.' 

'  Let  every  soul  be  subject  unto  the  higher  powers,  for  there 
is  no  power  but  of  God :  the  powers  that  be,  are  ordained  of 


356  Evidences  of  Christianity.  [Part  III. 

God  :  whosoever  therefore  resisteth  the  power,  resisteth  the 
ordinance  of  God ;  and  they  that  resist,  shall  receive  to  them- 
selves damnation.  For  rulers  are  not  a  terror  to  good  works, 
but  to  the  evil.  Wilt  thou  then  not  be  afraid  of  the  power  ? 
Do  that  which  is  good,  and  thou  shalt  have  praise  of  the  same, 
for  he  is  the  minister  of  God  to  thee  for  good  :  but  if  thou  do 
that  which  is  evil,  be  afraid,  for  he  beareth  not  the  sword  in 
vain  :  for  he  is  the  minister  of  God,  a  revenger  to  execute 
wrath  upon  him  that  doeth  evil.  "Wherefore  ye  must  needs  be 
subject,  not  only  for  wrath,  but  also  for  conscience  sake  :  for, 
for  this  cause,  pay  ye  tribute  also,  for  they  are  God's  ministers, 
attending  continually  upon  this  very  thing.  Render,  therefore, 
to  all  their  clues  :  tribute  to  whom  tribute  is  due ;  custom,  to 
whom  custom ;  fear,  to  whom  fear ;  honor,  to  whom  hoaor. 

'  Owe  no  man  any  thing,  but  to  love  one  another  ;  for  he  that 
loveth  another  hath  fulfilled  the  law  ;  for  this,  thou  shalt  not 
commit  adultery,  thou  shalt  not  kill,  thou  shalt  not  steal,  thou 
shalt  not  bear  false  witness,  thou  shalt  not  covet ;  and  if  there 
be  any  other  commandment,  it  is  briefly  comprehended  in  this 
saying,  Thou  shalt  love  thy  neighbor  as  thyself.  Love  work- 
eth  no  ill  to  his  neighbor ;  therefore  love  is  the  fulfilling  of 
the  law. 

'  And  that,  knowing  the  time,  that  now  it  is  high  time  to 
awake  out  of  sleep  :  for  now  is  our  salvation  nearer  than  when 
we  believed.  The  night  is  far  spent,  the  day  is  at  hand  ;  let 
us  therefore  cast  off  the  works  of  darkness,  and  let  us  put  on 
the  armor  of  light.  Let  us  walk  honestly  as  in  the  day,  not  in 
rioting  and  drunkenness,  not  in  chambering  and  wantonness, 
not  in  strife  and  envying.'1 

Read  this,  and  then  think  of  exitiabilis  superstitio  ! — Or  it 
we  be  not  allowed,  in  contending  with  heathen  authorities,  to 
produce  our  books  against  theirs,  we  may  at  least  be  permitted 
to  confront  theirs  with  one  another.  Of  this  '  pernicious  super- 
stition,' what  could  Pliny  find  to  blame,  when  he  was  led,  by 
his  office,  to  institute  something  like  an  examination  into  the 
conduct  and  principles  of  the  sect?  He  discovered  nothing, 
but  that  they  were  wont  to  meet  together  on  a  stated  day 
before  it  was  light,  and  sing  among  themselves  a  hymn  to 


1  Rom.  xii.  9  ;  xiii.  13. 


Chap,  iv.]  Rejection  of  Christianity.  357 

Christ  as  a  God,  and  to  bind  themselves  by  an  oath,  not  to  the 
commission  of  any  wickedness,  but  not  to  be  guilty  of  theft, 
robbery,  or  adultery ;  never  to  falsify  their  word,  nor  to  deny 
a  pledge  committed  to  them,  when  called  upon  to  return  it. 

Upon  these  words  of  Tacitus  we  may  build  the  following 
observations : 

First,  That  we  are  well  warranted  in  calling  the  view  under 
which  the  learned  men  of  that  age  beheld  Christianity,  an  ob- 
scure and  distant  view.  Had  Tacitus  known  more  of  Chris- 
tianity, of  its  precepts,  duties,  constitution,  or  design,  however 
he  had  discredited  the  story,  he  would  have  respected  the  prin- 
ciple. He  would  have  described  the  religion  differently,  though 
he  had  rejected  it.  It  has  been  very  satisfactorily  shown,  that 
the  'superstition'  of  the  Christians  consisted  in  worshipping  a 
person  unknown  to  the  Roman  calendar ;  and  that  the  '  perni- 
ciousness'  with  which  they  were  reproached,  was  nothing  else 
but  their  opposition  to  the  established  polytheism :  and  this 
view  of  the  matter  was  just  such  a  one  as  might  be  expected 
to  occur  to  a  mind,  which  held  the  sect  in  too  much  contempt 
to  concern  itself  about  the  grounds  and  reasons  of  their 
conduct. 

Secondly,  We  may  from  hence  remark,  how  little  reliance 
can  be  placed  upon  the  most  acute  judgments,  in  subjects  which 
they  are  pleased  to  despise ;  and  which,  of  course,  they  from  the 
first  consider  as  unworthy  to  be  inquired  into.  Had  not  Chris- 
tianity survived  to  tell  its  own  story,  it  must  have  gone  down 
to  posterity  as  a  '  pernicious  superstition ;'  and  that  upon  the 
credit  of  Tacitus's  account,  much,  I  doubt  not,  strengthened  by 
the  name  of  the  writer,  and  the  reputation  of  his  sagacity. 

Thirdly,  That  this  contempt  prior  to  examination,  is  an  intel- 
lectual vice,  from  which  the  greatest  faculties  of  mind  are  not 
free.  I  know  not,  indeed,  whether  men  of  the  greatest  facul- 
ties of  mind  are  not  the  most  subject  to  it.  Such  men  feel 
themselves  seated  upon  an  eminence.  Looking  clown  from  their 
height  upon  the  follies  of  mankind,  they  behold  contending 
tenets  wasting  their  idle  strength  upon  one  another,  with  a 
common  disdain  of  the  absurdity  of  them  all.  This  habit  of 
thought,  however  comfortable  to  the  mind  which  entertains  it, 
or  however  natural  to  great  parts,  is  extremely  dangerous ;  and 
more  apt,  than  almost  any  other  disposition,  to  produce  hasty 


358  Evidences  of  Christianity.  [Part  III. 

and  contemptuous,  and,  by  consequence,  erroneous  judgments, 
both  of  persons  and  opinions. 

Fourthly,  We  need  not  be  surprised  at  many  writers  of  that 
age  not  mentioning  Christianity  at  all,  when  they  who  did 
mention  it  appear  to  have  entirely  misconceived  its  nature  and 
character ;  and,  in  consequence  of  this  misconception,  to  have 
regarded  it  with  negligence  and  contempt. 

To  the  knowledge  of  the  greatest  part  of  the  learned  hea- 
thens, the  facts  of  the  christian  history  could  only  come  by 
report.  The  books,  probably,  they  had  never  looked  into. 
The  settled  habit  of  their  minds  was,  and  long  had  been,  an 
indiscriminate  rejection  of  all  reports  of  the  kind.  With  these 
sweeping  conclusions  truth  had  no  chance.  It  depends  upon 
distinction.  If  they  would  not  inquire,  how  should  they  be 
convinced  ?  It  might  be  founded  in  truth,  though  they,  who 
made  no  search,  might  not  discover  it. 

'  Men  of  rank  and  fortune,  of  wit  and  abilities,  are  often 
found,  even  in  christian  countries,  to  be  surprisingly  ignorant 
of  religion,  and  of  every  thing  that  relates  to  it.  Such  were 
many  of  the  heathens.  Their  thoughts  were  all  fixed  upon 
other  things,  upon  reputation  and  glory,  upon  wealth  and 
power,  upon  luxury  and  pleasure,  upon  business  or  learning. 
They  thought,  and  they  had  reason  to  think,  that  the  religion 
of  their  country  was  fable  and  forgery,  an  heap  of  incon- 
sistent lies,  which  inclined  them  to  suppose  that  other  religions 
were  no  better.  Hence  it  came  to  pass,  that  when  the  Apos- 
tles preached  the  gospel,  and  wrought  miracles  in  confirmation 
of  a  doctrine  every  way  worthy  of  God,  many  Gentiles  knew 
little  or  nothing  of  it,  and  would  not  take  the  least  pains  to 
inform  themselves  about  it.  This  appears  plainly  from  ancient 
history.'1 

I  think  it  by  no  means  unreasonable  to  suppose,  that  the 
heathen  public,  especially  that  part  which  is  made  up  of  men 
of  rank  and  education,  were  divided  into  two  classes ;  those 
who  despised  Christianity  beforehand,  and  those  who  received 
it.  In  correspondency  with  which  division  of  character,  the 
writers  of  that  age  would  also  be  of  two  classes  ;  those  who 
were  silent  about  Christianity,  and  those  who  were  Christians. 

1  Jortin's  Dis.  on  the  Chris.  Rrt   p.  66,  ed.  4th. 


Chap,  v.]  Miracles  not  recited  by  early  christian  Writers.      359 

'A  good  man,  who  attended  sufficiently  to  the  christian  affairs, 
would  become  a  Christian  ;  after  which  his  testimony  ceased  to 
be  Pagan,  and  became  Christian.'1 

I  must  also  add,  that  I  think  it  sufficiently  proved,  that  the 
notion  of  magic  was  resorted  to  by  the  heathen  adversaries  of 
Christianity,  in  like  manner  as  that  of  diabolical  agency  had 
before  been  by  the  Jews.  Justin  Martyr  alleges  this  as  his 
reason  for  arguing  from  prophecy,  rather  than  from  miracles. 
Origen  imputes  this  evasion  to  Celsus  ;  Jerome  to  Porphyry ; 
and  Lactantius  to  the  heathen  in  general.  The  several  pas- 
sages, which  contain  these  testimonies,  will  be  produced  in  the 
next  chapter.  It  being  difficult,  however,  to  ascertain  in  what 
degree  this  notion  prevailed,  especially  amongst  the  superior 
ranks  of  the  heathen  communities,  another,  and  I  think  an 
adequate,  cause  has  been  assigned  for  their  infidelity.  It  is 
probable  that  in  many  cases  the  two  causes  would  operate 
together. 


CHAPTER  Y. 


That  the  christian  miracles  are  not  recited,  or  appealed  to, 
by  early  christian  writers  themselves,  so  fully  or  frequently 
as  might  have  been  expected. 

I  SHALL  consider  this  objection,  first,  as  it  applies  to  the 
letters  of  the  apostles,  preserved  in  the  New  Testament ; 
and  secondly,  as  it  applies  to  the  remaining  writings  of  other 
early  Christians. 

The  epistles  of  the  apostles  are  either  hortatory  or  argumen- 
tative. So  far  as  they  were  occupied  in  delivering  lessons  of 
duty,  rules  of  public  order,  admonitions  against  certain  prevail- 
ing corruptions,  against  vice,  or  any  particular  species  of  it,  or 
in  fortifying  and  encouraging  the  constancy  of  the  disciples 
under  the  trials  to  which  they  were  exposed,  there  appears  to 
be  no  place  or  occasion  for  more  of  these  references  than  we 
actually  find. 

1  Hartley,  Obs.  p.  119. 


360  Evidences  of  Christianity.  [Part  III. 

So  far  as  the  epistles  are  argumentative,  the  nature  of  the 
argument  which  they  handle,  accounts  for  the  infrequency  of 
these  allusions.  These  epistles  were  not  written  to  prove  the 
truth  of  Christianity.  The  subject  under  consideration  was  not 
that  which  the  miracles  decided,  the  reality  of  our  Lord's  mis- 
sion ;  but  it  was  that  which  the  miracles  did  not  decide,  the 
nature  of  his  person  or  power,  the  design  of  his  advent,  its  effects, 
and  of  those  effects  the  value,  kind,  and  extent.  Still  I  main- 
tain, that  miraculous  evidence  lies  at  the  bottom  of  the  argu- 
ment. For  nothing  could  be  so  preposterous  as  for  the 
disciples  of  Jesus  to  dispute  amongst  themselves,  or  with  others, 
concerning  his  office  or  character,  unless  they  believed  that  he 
had  shown,  by  supernatural  proofs,  that  there  was  something 
extraordinary  in  both.  Miraculous  evidence,  therefore,  forming 
not  the  texture  of  these  arguments,  but  the  ground  and  sub- 
stratum, if  it  be  occasionally  discerned,  if  it  be  incidentally 
appealed  to,  it  is  exactly  so  much  as  ought  to  take  place,  sup- 
posing the  history  to  be  true. 

As  a  further  answer  to  the  objection,  that  the  apostolic 
epistles  do  not  contain  so  frequent,  or  such  direct  and.  circum- 
stantial recitals  of  miracles  as  might  be  expected,  I  would  add, 
that  the  apostolic  epistles  resemble  in  this  respect  the  apSktolic 
speeches,  which  speeches  are  given  by  a  writer  who  distinctly 
records  numerous  miracles  wrought  by  these  apostles  them- 
selves, and  by  the  founder  of  the  institution  in  their  presence : 
that  it  is  unwarrantable  to  contend,  that  the  omission,  or  infre- 
quency, of  such  recitals  in  the  speeches  of  the  apostles,  negatives 
the  existence  of  the  miracles,  when  the  speeches  are  given  in 
immediate  conjunction  with  the  history  of  those  miracles;  and 
that  a  conclusion  which  cannot  be  inferred  from  the  speeches, 
without  contradicting  the  whole  tenor  of  the  book  which  con- 
tains them,  cannot  be  inferred  from  letters,  which,  in  this  re- 
spect, are  similar  only  to  the  speeches. 

To  prove  the  similitude  which  we  allege,  it  may  be  remarked, 
that  although  in  St.  Luke's  gospel,  the  apostle  Peter  is  re- 
presented to  have  been  present  at  many  decisive  miracles 
wrought  by  Christ ;  and  although  the  second  part  of  the  same 
history  ascribes  other  decisive  miracles  to  Peter  himself,  par- 
ticularly the  cure  of  the  lame  man  at  the  gate  of  the  temple 
(Acts  iii.  1),  the  death  of  Ananias  and  Sapphira  (Acts  v.  1), 


Chap,  v.]  Miracles  not  recited  hy  early  christian  Writers.     361 

the  cure  of  iEneas  (Acts  ix.  40),  the  resurrection  of  Dorcas 
(Acts  ix.  34) ;  yet  out  of  six  speeches  of  Peter,  preserved  in  the 
Acts,  I  know  but  two  in  which  reference  is  made  to  the  miracles 
wrought  by  Christ,  and  only  one  in  which  he  refers  to  mira- 
culous powers  possessed  by  himself.  In  his  speech  upon  the 
day  of  Pentecost,  Peter  addresses  his  audience  with  great 
solemnity  thus  :  '  Ye  men  of  Israel,  hear  these  words  ;  Jesus  of 
Nazareth,  a  man  approved  of  God  among  you,  by  miracles  and 
wonders  and  signs,  which  God  did  by  him  in  the  midst  of  you, 
as  ye  yourselves  also  know,'  &C.1  In  his  speech  upon  the  con- 
version of  Cornelius,  he  delivers  his  testimony  to  the  miracles 
performed  by  Christ  in  these  words :  '  We  are  witnesses  of  all 
things  which  he  did,  both  in  the  land  of  the  Jews,  and  in 
Jerusalem.'2  But  in  this  latter  speech  no  allusion  appears  to 
the  miracles  wrought  by  himself,  notwithstanding  that  the 
miracles  above  enumerated  all  preceded  the  time  in  which  it 
was  delivered.  In  his  speecli  upon  the  election  of  Matthias,3 
no  distinct  reference  is  made  to  any  of  the  miracles  of  Christ's 
history,  except  his  resurrection.  The  same  also  may  be  ob- 
served of  his  speech  upon  the  cure  of  the  lame  man  at  the  gate 
of  the  temple;4  the  same  in  his  speech  before  the  Sanhedrim;5 
the  same  in  his  second  apology  in  the  presence  of  that  assembly. 
Stephen's  long  speech  contains  no  reference  whatever  to 
miracles,  though  it  be  expressly  related  of  him,  in  the  book 
which  preserves  the  speech,  and  almost  immediately  before  the 
speech,  '  that  he  did  great  wonders  and  miracles  among  the 
people.'6  Again,  although  miracles  be  expressly  attributed  to 
St.  Paul  in  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles,  first  generally,  as  at 
Iconium  (Acts  xiv.  3),  during  the  whole  tour  through  the  Upper 
Asia  (xiv.  27;  xv.  12),  at  Ephesus  (xix.  11,  12);  secondly,  in 
specific  instances,  as  the  blindness  of  Elymas  at  Paphos,7  the 
cure  of  the  cripple  at  Lystra,8  of  the  Pythoness  at  Philippi,9 
the  miraculous  liberation  from  prison  in  the  same  city,10  the 
restoration  of  Eutychus,11  the  predictions  of  his  shipwreck,12  the 
viper  at  Melita,13  the  cure  of  Publius's  father;14  at  all  which 
miracles,  except  the  two  first,  the  historian  himself  was  present : 


i  Acts  ii.  22.  2  Ibid.  x.  39.  *  ibid.  i.  15.  «  Ibid.  iii.  12. 

5  Ibid.  iv.  9.  «  Ibid.  vi.  8.  7  Ibid.  xiii.  7.  8  Ibid.  xiv.  8. 

9  Ibid.  xvi.  6.  10  Ibid.  xvi.  26.  "  Ibid.  xx.  10.  1S  Ibid,  xxvii.  10. 

13  Ibid,  xxviii.  6.  14  Ibid,  xxviii.  8. 


362  Evidences  of  Christianity.  [Part  III. 

notwithstanding,  I  sa)r,  this  positive  ascription  of  miracles  to 
St.  Paul,  jet  in  the  speeches  delivered  by  him,  and  given  as 
delivered  by  him,  in  the  same  book  in  which  the  miracles  are 
related,  and  the  miraculous  powers  asserted,  the  appeals  to  his 
own  miracles,  or  indeed  to  any  miracles  at  all,  are  rare  and 
incidental.  In  his  speech  at  Antioch  in  Pisidia,1  there  is  no 
allusion  but  to  the  resurrection.  In  his  discourse  at  Miletus,2 
none  to  any  miracle  ;  none  in  his  speech  before  Felix  ;3  none  in 
his  speech  before  Festus;4  except  to  Christ's  resurrection,  and 
his  own  conversion. 

Agreeably  hereunto,  in  thirteen  letters  ascribed  to  St.  Paul, 
we  have  incessant  references  to  Christ's  resurrection,  frequent 
references  to  his  own  conversion,  three  indubitable  references 
to  the  miracles  which  he  wrought,5  four  other  references  to  the 
same,  less  direct  yet  highly  probable  ; 6  but  more  copious  or 
circumstantial  recitals  we  have  not.  The  consent,  therefore, 
between  St.  Paul's  speeches  and  letters,  is  in  this  respect  suffi- 
ciently exact :  and  the  reason  in  both  is  the  same ;  namely, 
that  the  miraculous  history  was  all  along  presupposed,  and  that 
the  question,  which  occupied  the  speaker's  and  the  writer's 
thoughts,  was  this  :  whether,  allowing  the  history  of  J^sus  to 
be  true,  he  was,  upon  the  strength  of  it,  to  be  received  as  the 
promised  Messiah  ;  and,  if  he  was,  what  were  the  consequences, 
what  was  the  object  and  benefit  of  his  mission  ? 

The  general  observation  which  has  been  made  upon  the 
apostolic  writings,  namely,  that  the  subject  of  which  they  treated, 
did  not  lead  them  to  any  direct  recital  of  the  christian  history, 
belongs  also  to  the  writings  of  the  apostolic  fathers.  The 
Epistle  of  Barncibus  is,  in  its  subject  and  general  composition, 
much  like  the  epistle  to  the  Hebrews  ;  an  allegorical  applica- 
tion of  divers  passages  of  the  Jewish  history,  of  their  law  and 
ritual,  to  those  parts  of  the  christian  dispensation  in  which  the 
author  perceived  a  resemblance.  The  Epistle  of  Clement  was 
written  for  the  sole  purpose  of  quieting  certain  dissensions  that 
had  arisen  amongst  the  members  of  the  church  of  Corinth,  and 
of  reviving  in  their  minds  that  temper  and  spirit  of  which  their 


1  Acts  xiii.  16.  *  Ibid.  xx.  17.  3  Ibid  xxiv.  10.  «  Ibid.  xxv.  8. 

6  Gal.  iii.  5.     Rom.  xv.  18,  19.     2  Cor.  xii.  12. 
0  1  Cm.  ii.  4,  .").     Eph.  iii.  7.     Gal.  ii.  8.     1  These,  i.  5. 


Ch.  v.]     Miracles  not  recited  by  early  christian  Writers.      363 

predecessors  in  the  gospel  had  left  them  an  example.  The 
work  of  Hernias  is  a  vision  ;  quotes  neither  the  Old  Testament 
nor  the  New  ;  and  merely  falls  now  and  then  into  the  language, 
and  the  mode  of  speech,  which  the  author  had  read  in  our 
gospels.  The  Epistles  of  Polycarp  and  Ignatius  had  for  their 
principal  object  the  order  and  discipline  of  the  churches  which 
they  addressed.  Yet,  under  all  these  circumstances  of  dis- 
advantage, the  great  points  of  the  christian  history  are  fully 
recognized.     This  hath  been  shown  in  its  proper  place.1 

There  is,  however,  another  class  of  writers,  to  whom  the 
answer  above  given,  viz.,  the  unsuitableness  of  any  such  ap- 
peals or  references  as  the  objection  demands,  to  the  subjects  of 
which  the  writings  treated,  does  not  apply  ;  and  that  is,  the 
class  of  ancient  apologists,  whose  declared  design  it  was,  to 
defend  Christianity,  and  to  give  the  reasons  of  their  adherence 
to  it.  It  is  necessary,  therefore,  to  inquire  how  the  matter  of 
the  objection  stands  in  these. 

The  most  ancient  apologist,  of  whose  works  we  have  the 
smallest  knowledge,  is  Quadratus.  Quadratus  lived  about 
seventy  years  after  the  ascension,  and  presented  his  apology  to 
the  emperor  Adrian.  From  a  passage  of  this  work,  preserved 
in  Eusebius,  it  appears  that  the  author  did  directly  and  formally 
appeal  to  the  miracles  of  Christ,  and  in  terms  as  express  and 
confident  as  we  could  desire.  The  passage  (which  has  been 
once  already  stated)  is  as  follows  :  '  The  works  of  our  Saviour 
were  always  conspicuous,  for  they  were  real ;  both  they  that 
were  healed,  and  they  that  were  raised  from  the  dead,  were 
seen,  not  only  when  they  were  healed  or  raised,  but  for  a  long 
time  afterwards  ;  not  only  whilst  he  dwelled  on  this  earth,  but 
also  after  his  departure,  and  for  a  good  while  after  it ;  insomuch 
as  that  some  of  them  have  reached  to  our  times.'2  Nothing 
can  be  more  rational  or  satisfactory  than  this. 

Justin  Martyr,  the  next  of  the  christian  apologists  whose 
work  is  not  lost,  and  who  followed  Quadratus  at  the  distance 
of  about  thirty  years,  has  touched  upon  passages  of  Christ's 
history  in  so  many  places,  that  a  tolerably  complete  account  of 
Christ's  life  might  be  collected  out  of  his  works.  In  the  fol- 
lowing quotation  he  asserts  the  performance  of  miracles  by 


1  Vide  ante,  pp.  90,  91.  5  Ens.  Hist,  1.  iv.  c.  3. 


364  Evidences  of  Christianity.  [Part  III. 

Christ,  in  "words  as  strong  and  positive  as  the  language  pos- 
sesses :  '  Christ  healed  those  who  from  their  birth  were  blind, 
and  deaf,  and  lame  ;  causing,  by  his  word,  one  to  leap,  another 
to  hear,  and  a  third  to  see  ;  and  having  raised  the  dead,  and 
caused  them  to  live,  he  by  his  works  excited  attention,  and 
induced  the  men  of  that  age  to  know  him.  "Who,  however, 
seeing  these  things  done,  said  that  it  was  a  magical  appear- 
ance, and  dared  to  call  him  a  magician,  and  a  deceiver  of  the 
people.'1 

In  his  first  apology,2  Justin  expressly  assigns  the  reason  for 
his  having  recourse  to  the  argument  from  prophecy,  rather  than 
alleging  the  miracles  of  the  christian  history  :  which  reason 
was,  that  the  persons  with  whom  he  contended  would  ascribe 
these  miracles  to  magic  ;  '  lest  any  of  our  opponents  should 
say,  What  hinders,  but  that  he  who  is  called  Christ  by  us, 
being  a  man  sprung  from  men,  performed  the  miracles  which 
we  attributed  to  him  by  magical  art  V  The  suggestion  of  this 
reason  meets,  as  I  apprehend,  the  very  point  of  the  present 
objection  ;  more  especially  when  we  find  Justin  followed  in  it, 
by  other  writers  of  that  age.  Irenseus,  who  came  about. forty 
years  after  him,  notices  the  same  evasion  in  the  adversaries  of 
Christianity,  and  replies  to  it  by  the  same  argument :  '  But,  if 
they  shall  say,  that  the  Lord  performed  these  things  by  an 
illusory  appearance  (QavTaoiudug),  leading  these  objectors  to 
the  prophecies,  we  will  show  from  them,  that  all  things  were 
thus  predicted  concerning  him,  and  strictly  came  to  pass.'3 
Lactantius,  who  lived  a  century  lower,  delivers  the  same  sen- 
timent, upon  the  same  occasion.  'He  performed  miracles — we 
might  have  supposed  him  to  have  been  a  magician,  as  ye  say, 
and  as  the  Jews  then  supposed,  if  all  the  prophets  had  not 
villi  one  spirit  foretold  that  Christ  should  perform  these  very 
things.'4 

But  to  return  to  the  Christian  apologists  in  their  order: 
Tertullian — 'That  person  whom  the  Jews  had  vainly  imagined, 
from  Ihe  meanness  of  his  appearance,  to  be  a  mere  man,  they 
afterwards,  in  consequence  of  the  power  he  exerted,  con- 
sidered as  a  magician,  when  he,  with  one  word,  ejected  devils 


1  Just.  Dial.  p.  258.  ed.  Thirlby.  * Ap.  prim.  p.  48,  ibid. 

3  Tr.  1.  ii.  c.  57.  '  Lact.  v.  3. 


Ch.  v.]    If  trades  not  recited  by  early  christian  Writers.      365 

out  of  the  bodies  of  men,  gave  sight  to  the  blind,  cleansed  the 
leprous,  strengthened  the  nerves  of  those  that  had  the  palsy, 
and  lastly,  with  one  command,  restored  the  dead  to  life ;  when 
he,  I  say,  made  the  very  elements  obey  him,  assuaged  the 
storms,  walked  upon  the  seas,  demonstrating  himself  to  be  the 
word  of  God.' 1 

Next  in  the  catalogue  of  professed  apologists  we  may  place 
Origen,  who,  it  is  well  known,  published  a  formal  defence  of 
Christianity,  in  answer  to  Celsus,  a  heathen,  who  had  written  a 
discourse  against  it.  I  know  no  expressions  by  which  a  plainei 
or  more  positive  appeal  to  the  christian  miracles  can  be  made, 
than  the  expressions  used  by  Origen :  '  Undoubtedly  we  do 
think  him  to  be  the  Christ,  and  the  son  of  God,  because  he 
healed  the  lame  and  the  blind  ;  and  we  are  the  more  confirmed 
in  this  persuasion,  by  what  is  written  in  the  prophecies,  Then 
shall  the  eyes  of  the  blind  be  opened,  and  the  ears  of  the  deaf 
shall  hear,  and  the  lame  men  shall  leap  as  an  hart.  But  that 
he  also  raised  the  dead,  and  that  it  is  not  a  fiction  of  those 
who  wrote  the  Gospels,  is  evident  from  hence,  that  if  it  had 
been  a  fiction,  there  would  have  been  many  recorded  to  be 
raised  up,  and  such  as  had  been  a  long  time  in  their  graves. 
But,  it  not  being  a  fiction,  few  have  been  recorded :  for  in- 
stance, the  daughter  of  the  ruler  of  a  synagogue,  of  whom  I  do 
not  know  why  he  said,  She  is  not  dead  but  sleepeth,  express- 
ing something  peculiar  to  her,  not  common  to  all  dead  persons ; 
and  the  only  son  of  a  widow,  on  whom  he  had  compassion, 
and  raised  him  to  life  after  he  had  bid  the  bearers  of  the 
corpse  to  stop ;  and  the  third  Lazarus,  who  had  been  buried 
four  days.'  This  is  positively  to  assert  the  miracles  of  Christ, 
and  it  is  also  to  comment  upon  them,  and  that  with  a  con- 
siderable degree  of  accuracy  and  candor. 

In  another  passage  of  the  same  author,2  we  meet  with  the 
old  solution  of  magic  applied  to  the  miracles  of  Christ  by  the 
adversaries  of  the  religion.  '  Celsus,'  saith  Origen, '  well  know- 
ing what  great  works  may  be  alleged  to  have  been  done  by  Jesus, 
pretends  to  grant  that  the  things  related  of  him  are  true :  such 
as  healing  diseases,  raising  the  dead,  feeding  multitudes  with  a 


1  Tertull.  Apolog.  p.  20,  ed.  Priorii,  Par.  1675. 
a  Or.  eon.  CeU.  lil>.  ii.  sect.  48. 


366  Evidences  of  Christianity.  [Part  III. 

few  loaves,  of  which  large  fragments  were  left.'  And  then  Cel- 
sus  gives,  it  seems,  an  answer  to  these  proofs  of  our  Lord's 
mission,  which,  as  Origen  understood  it,  resolved  the  phenom- 
ena into  magic ;  for  Origen  begins  his  reply,  by  observing, 
'  You  see  that  Celsus  in  a  manner  allows  that  there  is  such  a 
thing  as  magic.'1 

It  appears  also  from  the  testimony  of  St.  Jerome,  that  Por- 
phyry, the  most  learned  and  able  of  the  heathen  writers  against 
Christianity,  resorted  to  the  same  solution :  '  Unless,'  says  he, 
speaking  to  Yigilantius,  '  according  to  the  manner  of  the  Gen- 
tiles, and  the  profane,  of  Porphyry  and  Eunomius,  you  pretend 
that  these  are  the  tricks  of  demons.'2 

This  magic,  these  demons,  this  illusory  appearance,  this  com- 
parison with  the  tricks  of  jugglers,  by  which  many  of  that 
age  accounted  so  easily  for  the  christian  miracles,  and  which 
answers  the  advocates  of  Christianity  often  thought  it  neces- 
sary to  refute,  by  arguments  drawn  from  other  topics,  and  par- 
ticularly from  prophecy  (to  which,  it  seems,  these  solutions  did 
not  apply),  we  now  perceive  to  be  gross  subterfuges.  That 
such  reasons  were  ever  seriously  urged,  and  seriously  received, 
is  only  a  proof,  what  a  gloss  and  varnish  fashion  can  giv£  to 
any  opinion. 

It  appears,  therefore,  that  the  miracles  of  Christ,  understood 
as  we  understand  them,  in  their  literal  and  historical  sense, 
were  positively  and  precisely  asserted  and  appealed  to  by  the 
apologists  for  Christianity ;  which  answers  the  allegation  of 
the  objection. 

I  am  ready,  however,  to  admit,  that  the  ancient  christian 
advocates  did  not  insist  upon  the  miracles  in  argument,  so  fre- 
quently as  I  should  have  done.  It  was  their  lot  to  contend 
with  notions  of  magical  agency,  against  which  the  mere  pro- 
duction of  the  facts  was  not  sufficient  for  the  convincing  of 
their  adversaries;  I  do  not  know  whether  they  themselves 
thought  it  quite  decisive  of  the  controversy.  But  since  it  is 
proved,  I  conceive  with  certainty,  that  the  sparingness  with 
which  they  appealed  to  miracles,  was  owing  neither  to  their 
ignorance,  nor  their  doubt  of  the  facts,  it  is,  at  any  rate,  an 


1  Lard.  Jewish  and  Heath.  Test.  vol.  ii.  p.  294,  od.  quarto. 
''  Jerome  con.  VigU. 


Ch.  vi.]    Want  of  Universality  in  christian  Knowledge.       307 

objection,  not  to  the  truth  of  the  history,  but  to  the  judgment 
of  its  defenders. 


ANNOTATION. 

'  The  Epistle  of  Barnabas  is,  in  its  subject,  and  general  compo- 
sition, much  like  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews.'' 

On  the  contrary,  this  epistle — which  doubtless  was  not  the 
work  of  the  Apostle  Barnabas  (else,  it  would  surely  have  been 
admitted  into  the  Canon  of  Scripture),  but  of  some  person  who 
bore,  or  who  assumed,  the  name,  above  a  century  later — pre- 
sents a  strong  contrast  to  all  our  Scriptures.  For,  it  teaches, 
not  merely  that  the  Mosaic  Law  had  a  typical  reference  to  the 
Gospel,  but  that  its  precepts  were  never  designed  to  be  obeyed 
at  all,  in  their  literal  sense,  but  only  in  a  figurative  one.  The 
flesh  of  swine,  for  instance,  was  not,  it  seems,  designed  to  be 
forbidden,  but  only,  impure  company !  with  much  more  of 
such  rationalistic  fancies,  quite  unlike  any  thing  in  the  apos- 
tolic writings. 


CHAPTER  YI. 

Want  of  Universality  in  the  Knowledge  and  Reception  oj 
Christianity,  and  of  greater  Clearness  in  the  Evidence. 

OF  a  revelation  which  really  came  from  God,  the  proof,  it 
has  been  said,  would  in  all  ages  be  so  public  and  mani- 
fest, that  no  part  of  the  human  species  would  remain  ignorant 
of  it,  no  understanding  could  fail  of  being  convinced  by  it. 

The  advocates  of  Christianity  do  not  pretend  that  the  evi- 
dence of  their  religion  possesses  these  qualities.  They  do  not 
deny  that  we  can  conceive  it  to  be  within  the  compass  of 
divine  power,  to  have  communicated  to  the  world  a  higher 
degree  of  assurance,  and  to  have  given  to  his  communication  a 
stronger  and  more  extensive  influence.  For  any  thing  we  are 
able  to  discern,  God  could  have  so  formed  men,  as  to  have  per- 
ceived the  truths  of  religion  intuitively  ;  or  to  have  carried  on 
a  communication  with  the  other  world,  whilst  they  lived  in  this; 


368  Evidences  of  Christianity.  [Part  III. 

or  to  have  seen  the  individuals  of  the  species,  instead  of  dying, 
pass  to  heaven  by  a  sensible  translation.  He  could  have  pre- 
sented a  separate  miracle  to  each  man's  senses.  He  could  have 
established  a  standing  miracle.  He  could  have  caused  miracles 
to  be  wrought  in  every  different  age  and  country.  These,  and 
many  more  methods,  which  we  may  imagine,  if  we  once  give 
loose  to  our  imaginations,  are,  so  far  as  we  can  judge,  all  prac- 
ticable. 

The  question,  therefore,  is  not,  whether  Christianity  pos- 
sesses the  highest  possible  degree  of  evidence,  but  whether  the 
not  having  more  evidence  be  a  sufficient  reason  for  rejecting 
that  which  we  have. 

Now,  there  appears  to  be  no  fairer  method  of  judging,  con- 
cerning any  dispensation  which  is  alleged  to  come  from  God, 
when  a  question  is  made  whether  such  a  dispensation  could 
come  from  God  or  not,  than  by  comparing  it  with  other  things 
which  are  acknowledged  to  proceed  from  the  same  counsel, 
and  to  be  produced  by  the  same  agency.  If  the  dispensation 
in  question  labor  under  no  defects  but  what  apparently  belong 
to  other  dispensations,  these  seeming  defects  do  not  justify'ois, 
in  setting  aside  the  proofs  which  are  offered  of  its  authenticity, 
if  they  be  otherwise  entitled  to  credit. 

Throughout  that  order  then  of  nature,  of  which  God  is  the 
author,  what  we  find  is  a  system  of  benejicence,  we  are  seldom 
or  ever  able  to  make  out  a  system  of  optimism.  I  mean,  that 
there  are  few  cases  in  which,  if  we  permit  ourselves  to  range 
iu  possibilities,  we  cannot  suppose  something  more  perfect,  and 
more  unobjectionable,  than  what  we  see.  The  rain  which 
descends  from  heaven  is  confessedly  amongst  the  contrivances 
of  the  Creator,  for  the  sustentation  of  the  animals  and  vege- 
tables which  subsist  upon  the  surface  of  the  earth.  Yet  how 
partially  and  irregularly  is  it  supplied!  How  much  of  it  falls 
upon  the  sea,  where  it  can  be  of  no  use;  how  often  is  it  wanted 
where  it  would  be  of  the  greatest!  What  tracts  of  continent 
are  rendered  deserts  by  the  scarcity  of  it !  Or,  not  to  speak 
of  extreme  cases,  how  much,  sometimes,  do  inhabited  countries 
suffer  by  its  deficiency  or  delay  ! — We  could  imagine,  if  to  ima- 
gine were  our  business,  the  matter  to  be  otherwise  regulated. 
We  could  imagine  showers  to  fall,  just  where  and  when  they 
would  do  good  ;  always  seasonable,  everywhere  sufficient  ;  so 


Chap,  vi.]    Want  of  Universality  in  christian  Knowledge.    309 

distributed  as  not  to  leave  a  field  upon  the  face  of  the  globe 
scorched  by  drought,  or  even  a  plant  withering  for  the  lack  of 
moisture.     Yet  does  the  difference  between  the  real  case  and 
the  imagined  case,  or  the  seeming  inferiority  of  the  one  to  the 
other,  authorize  us  to  say,  that  the  present  disposition  of  the 
atmosphere  is  not  amongst  the  productions  or  the  designs  of 
the  Deity  ?     Does  it  it  check  the  inference  which  we  draw  from 
the  confessed  beneficence  of  the  provision?  or  does  it  make  us 
cease  to  admire  the  contrivance  ? — The  observation,  which  we 
have  exemplified  in  the  single  instance  of  the  rain  of  heaven, 
may  be  repeated  concerning  most  of  the  phenomena  of  nature  : 
and  the  true  conclusion  to  which  it  leads  is  this,  that  to  inquire 
what  the  Deity  might  have  done,  could  have  done,  or,  as  we 
even  sometimes  presume  to  speak,  ought  to  have  done,  or,  in 
hypothetical  cases,  would  have  done,  and  to  build  any  propo- 
sitions upon  such  inquiries  against  evidence  of  facts,  is  wholly 
unwarrantable.     It  is  a  mode  of  reasoning  which  will  not  do 
in  natural  religion,  which  cannot  therefore  be  applied  with 
safety  to  revelation.     It  may  have  some  foundation,  in  certain 
speculative  a  priori  ideas  of  the  divine  attributes  ;  but  it  has 
none  in  experience,  or  in  analogy.     The  general  character  of 
the  works  of  nature  is,  on  the  one  hand,   goodness  both  in 
design  and  effect ;  and,  on  the  other  hand,  a  liability  to  diffi- 
culty, and  to  objections,  if  such  objections  be  allowed, by  reason 
of  seeming   incompleteness  or  uncertainty  in  attaining  their 
end.     Christianity  participates   of  this   character.     The   true 
similitude  between  nature  and  revelation  consists  in  this ;  that 
they  each  bear  strong  marks  of  their  original ;  that  they  each 
also  bear  appearances  of  irregularity  and  defect.     A  system  of 
strict  optimism  may  nevertheless  be  the  real  system  in  both 
cases.     But  what  I  contend  is,  that  the  proof  is  hidden  from 
us  /  that  we  ought  not  to  expect  to  perceive  that  in  revelation, 
which  we  hardly  perceive  in  any  thing ;  that  beneficence,  of 
which  we  can  judge,  ought   to    satisfy  us,  that  optimism,  of 
which  we  cannot  judge,  ought  not  to  be  sought  after.     We 
can  judge  of  beneficence,  because  it  depends  upon  effects  which 
we  experience,  and  upon  the  relation  between  the  means  which 
we  see  acting,  and    the   ends  which  we   see  produced.     We 
cannot  judge  of  optimism,  because  it  necessarily  implies  a  com- 
parison of  that  which  is  tried,  with  that  which  is  not  tried  ;  of 

21 


370  Evidences  of  Christianity.  [Part  III. 

consequences  which  we  see,  with  others  which  we  imagine, 
and  concerning  many  of  which,  it  is  more  than  probable 
we  know  nothing ;  concerning  some,  that  we  have  no 
notion. 

If  Christianity  be  compared  with  the  state  and  progress  of 
natural  religion,  the  argument  of  the  objector  will  gain  nothing 
by  the  comparison.  I  remember  hearing  an  unbeliever  say, 
that,  if  God  had  given  a  revelation,  he  would  have  written  it 
in  the  skies.  Are  the  truths  of  natural  religion  written  in  the 
skies,  or  in  a  language  which  every  one  reads  ?  or  is  this  the 
case  with  the  most  useful  arts,  or  the  most  necessary  sciences 
of  human  life  ?  An  Otaheitean  or  an  Esquimaux  knows 
nothing  of  Christianity  ;  does  he  know  more  of  the  principles 
of  deism  or  morality  ?  which,  notwithstanding  his  ignorance, 
are  neither  untrue,  nor  unimportant,  nor  uncertain.  The  exist- 
ence of  the  Deity  is  left  to  be  collected  from  observations, 
which  every  man  does  not  make,  which  every  man,  perhaps,  is 
not  capable  of  making.  Can  it  be  argued,  that  God  does  not 
exist,  because,  if  he  did,  he  would  let  us  see  him  ;  or  discover 
himself  to  mankind  by  proofs  (such  as,  we  may  think,  the 
nature  of  the  subject  merited),  which  no  inadvertency  could 
miss,  no  prejudice  withstand  ?  * 

If  Christianity  be  regarded  as  a  providential  instrument  for 
the  melioration  of  mankind,  its  progress  and  diffusion  resem- 
bles that  of  other  causes  by  which  human  life  is  improved.  The 
diversity  is  not  greater,  nor  the  advance  more  slow  in  religion, 
than  we  find  it  to  be  in  learning,  liberty,  government,  laws. 
The  Deity  hath  not  touched  the  order  of  nature  in  vain.  The 
Jewish  religion  produced  great  and  permanent  effects:  the 
christian  religion  hath  done  the  same.  It  hath  disposed  the 
world  to  amendment.  It  hath  put  things  in  a  train.  It  is 
by  no  means  improbable,  that  it  may  become  universal ;  and 
that  the  world  may  continue  in  that  state  so  long  as  that  the 
duration  of  its  reign  may  bear  a  vast  proportion  to  the  time  of 
its  partial  influence. 

When  we  argue  concerning  Christianity,  that  it  must  neces- 
sarily be  true,  because  it  is  beneficial,  we  go  perhaps  too  far  on 
one  side :  and  we  certainly  go  too  far  on  the  other,  when  we 
conclude  that  it  must  be  false,  because  it  is  not  so  efficacious  as 
we  could  have  supposed.     The  question  of  its  truth  is  to  be 


Chap,  vi.]  Want  of  Universality  in  christian  Knowledge.    371 

tried  upon  its  proper  evidence,  without  deferring  much  to  this 
sort  of  argument,  on  either  side.  '  The  evidence,'  as  Bishop 
Butler  hath  rightly  observed,  'depends  upon  the  judgment  we 
form  of  human  conduct,  under  given  circumstances,  of  which 
it  may  be  presumed  that  we  know  something;  the  objection 
stands  upon  the  supposed  conduct  of  the  Deity,  under  rela- 
tions with  which  we  are  not  acquainted.' 

What  would  be  the  real  effect  of  that  overpowering  evidence 
which  our  adversaries  require  in  a  revelation,  it  is  difficult  to 
foretell ;  at  least,  we  must  speak  of  it  as  of  a  dispensation  of 
which  we  have  no  experience.  Some  consequences  however 
would,  it  is  probable,  attend  this  economy,  which  do  not  seem 
to  befit  a  revelation  that  proceeded  from  God.  One  is,  that 
irresistible  proof  would  restrain  the  voluntary  powers  too  much ; 
would  not  answer  the  purpose  of  trial  and  probation ;  would 
call  for  no  exercise  of  candor,  seriousness,  humility,  inquiry ; 
no  submission  of  passions,  interests,  and  prejudices,  to  moral 
evidence  and  to  probable  truth;  no  habits  of  reflection;  none 
of  that  previous  desire  to  learn,  and  to  obey  the  will  of  God, 
which  forms  perhaps  the  test  of  the  virtuous  principle,  and 
which  induces  men  to  attend,  with  care  and  reverence,  to  every 
credible  intimation  of  that  will,  and  to  resign  present  advan- 
tages and  present  pleasures  to  every  reasonable  expectation  of 
propitiating  his  favor.  '  Men's  moral  probation  may  be, 
whether  they  will  take  due  care  to  inform  themselves  by  im- 
partial consideration  ;  and,  afterwards,  whether  they  will  act  as 
the  case  requires,  upon  the  evidence  which  they  have.  And 
this,  we  find  by  experience,  is  often  our  probation  in  our  tem- 
poral capacity.'1 

II.  These  modes  of  communication  would  leave  no  place 
for  the  admission  of  internal  evidence  y  which  ought,  perhaps, 
to  bear  a  considerable  part  in  the  proof  of  every  revelation, 
because  it  is  a  species  of  evidence,  which  applies  itself  to  the 
knowledge,  love,  and  practice  of  virtue,  and  which  operates  in 
proportion  to  the  degree  of  those  qualities  which  it  finds  in  the 
person  whom  it  addresses.  Men  of  good  dispositions,  amongst 
Christians,  are  greatly  affected  by  the  impression  which  the 
scriptures  themselves  make  upon  their  minds.     Their  convic- 

1  Butler's  Ana'ogy,  part  ii.  c.  vi. 


372  Evidences  of  Christianity.  [Part  III. 

tion  is  much  strengthened  by  these  impressions.  And  this 
perhaps  was  intended  to  be  one  effect  to  be  produced  by  the 
religion.  It  is  likewise  true,  to  whatever  cause  we  ascribe  it 
(for  I  am  not  in  this  work  at  liberty  to  introduce  the  christian 
doctrine  of  grace  or  assistance,  or  the  christian  promise,  'that, 
if  any  man  will  do  his  will,  he  shall  know  of  the  doctrine, 
whether  it  be  of  God,1) — it  is  true,  I  say,  that  they  who  sin- 
cerely act,  or  sincerely  endeavor  to  act,  according  to  what  they 
believe,  that  is,  according  to  the  just  result  of  the  probabilities, 
or,  if  you  please,  the  possibilities  in  natural  and  revealed  reli- 
gion, which  they  themselves  perceive,  and  according  to  a  rational 
estimate  of  consequences,  and,  above  all,  according  to  the  just 
effect  of  those  principles  of  gratitude  and  devotion,  wmicli  even 
the  view  of  nature  generates  in  a  well-ordered  mind,  seldom 
fail  of  proceeding  farther.  This  also  may  have  been  exactly 
what  was  designed. 

Whereas  may  it  not  be  said,  that  irresistible  evidence  would 
confound  all  characters,  and  all  dispositions?  would  subvert, 
rather  than  promote,  the  true  purpose  of  the  divine, councils, 
which  is  not  to  produce  obedience  by  a  force  little '"short  of 
mechanical  constraint  (which  obedience  would  be  regularity, 
not  virtue,  and  would  hardly  perhaps  differ  from  that  which 
inanimate  bodies  pay  to  the  laws  impressed  upon  their  nature), 
but  to  treat  moral  agents  agreeably  to  what  they  are ;  which  is 
done,  when  light  and  motives  are  of  such  kinds,  and  are  im- 
parted in  such  measures,  that  the  influence  of  them  depends 
upon  the  recipients  themselves?  'It  is  not  meet  to  govern 
rational  free  agents  in  via  by  sight  and  sense.  It  would  be 
no  trial  or  thanks  to  the  most  sensual  wretch  to  forbear  sin- 
ning if  heaven  and  hell  were  open  to  his  sight.  That  spiritual 
vision  and  fruition  is  our  state  in  patrit? — (Baxter's  Reasons, 
p.  357.)  There  may  be  truth  in  this  thought,  though  roughly 
expressed.  Few  things  are  more  improbable  than  that  we 
(the  human  species)  should  be  the  highest  order  of  beings  in 
the  universe;  that  animated  nature  should  ascend  from  the 
lowest  reptile  to  us,  and  all  at  once  stop  there.  If  there  be 
classes  above  us  of  rational  intelligences,  clearer  manifestations 
may  belong  to  them.     This  may  be  one  of  the  distinctions. 

1  John  vii.  17. 


Chap.  vi.J   Want  of  Universality  in  christian  Knowledge.     373 

And  it  may  be  one,  to  which  we  ourselves  hereafter  shall 
attain. 

III.  But  thirdly ;  may  it  not  also  be  asked,  whether  the 
perfect  display  of  a  future  state  of  existence  would  be  com- 
patible with  the  activity  of  civil  life,  and  with  the  success  of 
human  affairs  ?  I  can  easily  conceive  that  this  impression  may 
be  overdone ;  that  it  may  so  seize  and  fill  the  thoughts,  as  to 
leave  no  place  for  the  cares  and  offices  of  men's  several  sta- 
tions, no  anxiety  for  worldly  prosperity,  or  even  for  a  worldly 
provision,  and,  by  consequence,  no  sufficient  stimulus  to  secular 
industry.  Of  the  first  Christians  we  read,  '  that  all  that  be- 
lieved were  together,  and  had  all  things  common ;  and  sold 
their  possessions  and  goods,  and  parted  them  to  all  men,  as 
every  man  had  need ;  and,  continuing  daily  with  one  accord 
in  the  temple,  and  breaking  bread  from  house  to  house,  did 
eat  their  meat  with  gladness  and  singleness  of  heart.' '  This 
was  extremely  natural,  and  just  what  might  be  expected  from 
miraculous  evidence  coming  with  full  force  upon  the  senses 
of  mankind  :  but  I  much  doubt,  whether,  if  this  state  of  mind 
had  been  universal,  or  long  continued,  the  business  of  the 
world  could  have  gone  on.  The  necessary  arts  of  social  life 
would  have  been  little  cultivated.  The  plough  and  the  loom 
would  have  stood  still.  Agriculture,  manufactures,  trade,  and 
navigation,  would  not,  I  think,  have  flourished,  if  they  could 
have  been  exercised  at  all.  Men  would  have  addicted  them- 
selves to  contemplative  and  ascetic  lives,  instead  of  lives  of 
business  and  of  useful  industry.  We  observe  that  St.  Paul 
found  it  necessary,  frequently  to  recall  his  converts  to  the 
ordinary  labors  and  domestic  duties  of  their  condition  ;  and  to 
give  them,  in  his  own  example,  a  lesson  of  contented  applica- 
tion to  their  worldly  employments. 

By  the  manner  in  which  the  religion  is  now  proposed,  a 
great  portion  of  the  human  species  is  enabled,  and  of  these, 
multitudes  of  every  generation  are  induced  to  seek  and  to 
effectuate  their  salvation  through  the  medium  of  Christianity, 
without  interruption  of  the  prosperity  or  of  the  regular  course 
of  human  affairs. 


1  Acts  ii.  44-46. 


374  Evidences  of  Christianity.  [Part  HE. 

ANNOTATION. 

'  A  system  of  strict  optimism  may  he  the  real  system.'' 

The  one  great  difficulty,  which  is  continually  meeting  us  in 
various  shapes,  and  of  which  the  one  now  before  us  is  a  por- 
tion,— the  existence  of  evil, — is  one  of  which  no  satisfactory 
explanation  has  ever  been  offered,  or,  we  may  be  assured,  ever 
will  be,  to  Man  in  his  present  state.  Many  well-meaning  but 
not  clear-headed  persons,  zealous  to  '  vindicate  the  ways  of  God 
to  Man,'  have  written  on  the  subject,  weakly  indeed  and  in- 
effectually, but  in  a  pious  and  reverent  tone.  But  some,  while 
pretending  to  pre-eminent  piety  and  humility,  and  denouncing 
as  ungodly,  or  deriding  as  childish,  all  who  differ  from  them, 
have  used  language  which  is  in  fact  profanely  presumptuous. 
It  is  to  be  hoped  that  some  of  them  have  spoken  as  they  do, 
through  mere  confusion  of  thought,  not  perceiving  what  their 
doctrine  really  amounts  to.  A  right-minded  Christian,  how- 
ever, will  say,  '  I  am  sure  so  and  so  is  right,  though  I  do  not 
understand  why  or  how  it  is  ;  but  such  is  the  command  of  my 
heavenly  Father  ;  and  I  do  understand  that  I  have  goodvgrounds 
for  trusting  in  Him.'  And  such  a  man  will  keep  clear  o£  the 
presumption,  calling  itself  humility,  of  those  who  insist  on  it 
that  in  such  and  such  instances  the  Almighty  had  no  reason 
at  all  for  what  He  has  done,  except  (as  they  express  it)  to 
'  declare  his  sovereignty  ;'  and  that  He  acted  only  '  for  his  own 
glory ;'  as  if  He  could  literally  seek  glory !  Whenever  the  Most 
High  has  merely  revealed  to  us  his  will,  we  must  not  dare  to 
pronounce  that  He  had  no  reason  for  it  except  his  will,  because 
He  has  not  thought  tit  to  make  those  reasons  known  to  us.  To 
say  (as  some  have  presumed  to  say)  that  He  does1  so  and  so  for 

1  '  Multi  quidem,  ac  si  invidiam  a  Deo  repellere  vellent,  electionem  ita  fatentur 
ut  negent  quenquam  reprobari.  Sed  inscite  nimis  et  pueriliter,  quando  ipsa  elec- 
tio  nisi  reprobationi  opposite  non  staret.  Dicitur  segregare  Deus  qnos  adoptat 
in  sal utem  .  .  .  Quos  ergo  Deus  preterit,  reprobat  :  neque  alid  de  causd  nisi  quod 
ab  hereditate  quaxn  tiliis  suis  praedestinat,  illos  vult  excludcre.' — Inst.  lib.  iii.  cap. 

xxiii.  §  1 '  Unde  factum  est,  ut  tot  gentes,  una  cum  liberis  eorum  infanti- 

bus,  ajternae  morti  involveret  lapsus  Adffl  absque  remedio,  nisi  quia  Deo  ita  visum 
est?  Hie  obmutescere  oportet  tam  dicaces  alioqui  linguas.  Decretum  quidem 
horribile  fateor  :  inticiari  tamen  oemo  poterit  quin  prsesciverit  Deus  quern  exitum 
esset  habitants  homo,  antequam  ipsum  conderet,  et  idea  prsesciverit,  quia  decreto 
sun  sic  ordinarat.' — Calvin  Instil,  lib.  iii.  cap.  xxiii.  §  7.  How  far  from  having 
attained  to  this  doctrine,  <>r  forming  any  notion  nf  it.  must  have  been  those  dis- 
ciples who  were  present  when  our  Lord  '  beheld  the  City  and  WEPT  oveu  it  !' 


Chap,  vii.]         Supposed  Effects  of  Christianity.  375 

no  cause  whatever  except  that  He  chooses  it,  seems  little,  if  at 
all,  short  of  blasphemy.  Even  an  earthly  king,  being  not 
responsible  to  any  of  his  subjects  for  the  reasons  of  his  com- 
mands, may  sometimes  think  fit  to  issue  commands  without 
explaining  his  reasons.  And  it  would  be  insolent  rashness  for 
any  one  thence  to  conclude  that  he  had  no  reasons,  but  acted 
from  mere  caprice. 

So  also,  a  dutiful  child  will  often  have  to  say,  'I  do  so  and 
so  because  my  kind  and  wise  parents  have  commanded  me : 
that  is  reason  enough  for  me.'  But  though  this  is — to  the 
child — a  very  good  reason  for  obeying  the  command,  it  would  be 
a  very  bad  reason,  with  the  parents,  for  giving  that  command. 
And  he  would  show  his  filial  veneration,  and  trust,  not  by 
taking  for  granted  that  his  parents  had  no  reason  for  their  com- 
mands, but,  on  the  contrary,  by  taking  for  granted  that  there 
was  a  good  reason  both  for  their  acting  as  they  did,  and  for 
their  withholding  from  him  any  explanation. 

Most  wise  is  Scaliger's  precept : — 

Nescire  velle  qua  Magister  optimus 
Docere  non  vult,  eruditu  inscitia  est. 


CHAPTER  VII. 
The  supposed  Effects  of  Christianity. 

THAT  a  religion,  which,  under  every  form  in  which  it  is 
taught,  holds  forth  the  final  reward  of  virtue,  and  punish- 
ment of  vice,  and  proposes  those  distinctions  of  virtue  and  vice, 
which  the  wisest  and  most  cultivated  part  of  mankind  confess 
to  be  just,  should  not  be  believed,  is  very  possible  ;  but  that, 
so  far  as  it  is  believed,  it  should  not  produce  any  good,  but 
rather  a  bad  effect  upon  public  happiness,  is  a  proposition, 
which  it  requires  very  strong  evidence  to  render  credible.  Yet 
many  have  been  found  to  contend  for  this  paradox,  and  very 
confident  appeals  have  been  made  to  history,  and  to  observa- 
tion, for  the  truth  of  it. 

In  the  conclusions,  however,  which  these  writers  draw,  from 
what  they  call  experience,  two  sources,  I  think,  of  mistake, 
may  be  perceived. 


376  Evidences  of  Christianity.  Part  III. 

One  is,  that  they  look  for  the  influence  of  religion  in  the 
wrong  place. 

The  other,  that  they  charge  Christianity  with  many  con- 
sequences, for  which  it  is  not  responsible. 

I.  The  influence  of  religion  is  not  to  be  sought  for  in  the  coun- 
cils of  princes,  in  the  debates  or  resolutions  of  popular  assemblies, 
in  the  conduct  of  governments  towards  their  subjects,  or  of  states 
and  sovereigns  towards  one  another ;  of  conquerors  at  the  head  of 
their  armies,  or  of  parties  intriguing  for  power  at  home  (topics 
which  alone  almost  occupy  the  attention,  and  fill  the  pages  of  his- 
tory) ;  but  must  be  perceived,  if  perceived  at  all,  in  the  silent 
course  of  private  and  domestic  life.  Nay  more  ;  even  there  its 
influence  may  not  be  very  obvious  to  observation.  If  it  check,  in 
some  degree,  personal  dissoluteness,  if  it  beget  a  general  probity 
in  the  transaction  of  business,  if  it  produce  soft  and  humane 
manners  in  the  mass  of  the  community,  and  occasional  exer- 
tions of  laborious  or  expensive  benevolence  in  a  few  individuals, 
it  is  all  the  effect  which  can  offer  itself  to  external  notice.  The 
kingdom  of  heaven  is  within  us.  That  which  is  the -substance 
of  the  religion,  its  hopes  and  consolations,  its  intermixture  with 
the  thoughts  by  day  and  by  night,  the  devotion  of  the  jheart, 
the  control  of  appetite,  the  steady  direction  of  the  will  to  the 
commands  of  God,  is  necessarily  invisible.  Yet  upon  these 
depend  the  virtue  and  the  happiness  of  millions.  This  cause 
renders  the  representations  of  history,  with  respect  to  religion, 
defective  and  fallacious,  in  a  greater  degree  than  they  are  upon 
any  other  subj  ect.  Religion  operates  most  upon  those  of  whom 
history  knows  the  least ;  upon  fathers  and  mothers  in  their 
families,  upon  men-servants  and  maid-servants, upon  the  orderly 
tradesman,  the  quiet  villager,  the  manufacturer  at  his  loom, 
the  husbandman  in  his  fields.  Amongst  such  its  influence  col- 
lectively  may  be  of  inestimable  value,  yet  its  effects  in  the  mean 
time  little,  upon  those  who  figure  upon  the  stage  of  the  world. 
They  may  know  nothing  of  it ;  they  may  believe  nothing  of 
it :  they  may  be  actuated  by  motives  more  impetuous  than 
those  which  religion  is  able  to  excite.  It  cannot,  therefore,  be 
thought  strange,  that  this  influence  should  elude  the  grasp  and 
touch  of  public  history;  for  what  is  public  history,  but  a  re- 
gister  of  the  successes  and  disappointments,  the  vices,  the  follies, 
and  the  quarrels,  of  those  who  engage  in  contentions  for  power  ? 


Chap,  vii.]        Supposed  Effects  of  Christianity.  377 

I  will  add,  that  much  of  this  influence  may  be  felt  in  times  oi 
public  distress,  and  little  of  it  in  times  of  public  wealth  and 
security.  This  also  increases  the  uncertainty  of  any  opinions 
that  we  draw  from  historical  representations.  The  influence  of 
Christianity  is  commensurate  with  no  effects  which  history 
states.  We  do  not  pretend  that  it  has  any  such  necessary  and 
irresistible  power  over  the  affairs  of  nations,  as  to  surmount  the 
force  of  other  causes. 

The  christian  religion  also  acts  upon  public  usages  and  in- 
stitutions, by  an  operation  which  is  only  secondary  and  indirect. 
Christianity  is  not  a  code  of  civil  law.  It  can  only  reach  public 
institutions  through  private  character.  Now  its  influence  upon 
private  character  may  be  considerable,  yet  many  public  usages 
and  institutions,  repugnant  to  its  principles,  may  remain.  To 
get  rid  of  these,  the  reigning  part  of  the  community  must  act, 
and  act  together.  But  it  may  be  long  before  the  persons  who 
compose  this  body,  be  sufficiently  touched  with  the  christian 
character,  to  join  in  the  suppression  of  practices,  to  which  they 
and  the  public  have  been  reconciled,  by  causes  which  will  re- 
concile the  human  mind  to  any  thing,  by  habit  and  interest. 
Nevertheless,  the  effects  of  Christianity,  even  in  this  view,  have 
been  important.  It  has  mitigated  the  conduct  of  war,  and  the 
treatment  of  captives.  It  has  softened  the  administration  of 
despotic,  or  of  nominally  despotic  governments.  It  has  abolished 
polygamy.  It  has  restrained  the  licentiousness  of  divorces.  It 
has  put  an  end  to  the  exposure  of  children,  and  the  immolation 
of  slaves.  It  has  suppressed  the  combats  of  gladiators,1  and  the 
impurities  of  religious  rites.  It  has  banished,  if  not  unnatural 
vices,  at  least  the  toleration  of  them.  It  has  greatly  meliorated 
the  condition  of  the  laborious  part,  that  is  to  say,  of  the  mass 
of  every  community,  by  procuring  for  them  a  day  of  weekly 
rest.  In  all  countries,  in  which  it  is  professed,  it  has  produced 
numerous  establishments  for  the  relief  of  sickness  and  poverty  ; 
and,  in  some,  a  regular  and  general  provision  by  law.  It  has 
triumphed  over  the  slavery  established  in  the  Roman  empire : 


1  Lipsius  affirms,  (Sat.  bk.  i.  c.  12)  that  the  gladiatorial  shows  sometimes  cost 
Europe  twenty  or  thirty  thousand  lives  in  a  month  ;  and  that  not  only  the  men 
but  even  the  women  of  all  ranks  were  passionately  fond  of  these  shows.  See 
Bishop  Porteus's  Sermon  XIII. 


oTS  Evidences  of  Christianity.  [Part  III. 

it  is  contending,  and,  I  trust,  will  one  day  prevail,  against  the 
worse  slavery  of  the  West  Indies. 

A  christian  writer,1  so  early  as  in  the  second  century,  has 
testified  the  resistance  which  Christianity  made  to  wicked  and 
licentious  practices,  though  established  by  law  and  by  public 
usage.  '^Neither  in  Parthia,  do  the  Christians,  though  Par- 
tisans, use  polygamy ;  nor  in  Persia,  though  Persians,  do  they 
marry  their  own  daughters ;  nor,  among  the  Bactri,  or  Galli, 
do  they  violate  the  sanctity  of  marriage;  nor,  wherever  they 
are,  do  they  suffer  themselves  to  be  overcome  by  ill-constituted 
laws  and  manners.' 

Socrates  did  not  destroy  the  idolatry  of  Athens,  or  produce 
the  slightest  revolution  in  the  manners  of  his  country. 

But  the  argument  to  which  I  recur,  is,  that  the  benefit  of 
religion  being  felt  chiefly  in  the  obscurity  of  private  stations, 
necessarily  escapes  the  observation  of  history.  From  the  first 
general  notification  of  Christianity  to  the  present  day,  there 
have  been  in  every  age  many  millions,  whose  names  were 
never  heard  of,  made  better  by  it,  not  only  in  their' ^conduct, 
but  in  their  disposition  ;  and  happier,  not  so  much  in  their 
external  circumstances,  as  in  that  which  is  inter  prcec&rdifi,  in 
that  which  alone  deserves  the  name  of  happiness,  the  tranquil- 
lity and  consolation  of  their  thoughts.  It  has  been,  since  its 
commencement,  the  author  of  happiness  and  virtue  to  millions 
and  millions  of  the  human  race.  Who  is  there  that  would  not 
wish  his  son  to  be  a  Christian? 

Christianity  also,  in  every  country  in  which  it  is  professed, 
hath  obtained  a  sensible,  although  not  a  complete  influence, 
upon  the  public  judgment  of  morals.  And  this  is  very  im- 
portant. For  without  the  occasional  correction  which  public 
opinion  receives,  by  referring  to  some  fixed  standard  of  morality, 
no  man  can  foretell  into  what  extravagances  it  might  wander. 
Assassination  might  become  as  honorable  as  duelling ;  un- 
natural crimes  be  accounted  as  venial,  as  fornication  is  wont  to 
be  accounted.  In  this  way  it  is  possible,  that  many  may  be 
kept  in  order  by  Christianity,  who  are  not  themselves  Chris- 
tians. They  may  be  guided  by  the  rectitude  which  it  com- 
municates to  public  opinion.     Their  consciences  may  suggest 


1  Bardesanes  ap.  Eoseb.  Prccp.  Evang.  vi.  10. 


Chap,  vii.]  Supposed  Effects  of  Christianity.  379 

their  duty  truly,  and  they  may  ascribe  these  suggestions  to  a 
moral  sense,  or  to  the  native  capacity  of  the  human  intellect, 
when  in  fact  they  are  nothing  more  than  the  public  opinion, 
reflected  from  their  own  minds ;  an  opinion,  in  a  considerable 
degree,  modified  by  the  lessons  of  Christianity.  '  Certain  it  is, 
and  this  is  a  great  deal  to  say,  that  the  generality,  even  of  the 
meanest  and  most  vulgar  and  ignorant  people,  have  truer  and 
worthier  notions  of  God,  more  just  and  right  apprehensions 
concerning  his  attributes  and  perfections,  a  deeper  sense  of  the 
difference  of  good  and  evil,  a  greater  regard  to  moral  obligations 
and  to  the  plain  and  most  necessary  duties  of  life,  and  a  more 
firm  and  universal  expectation  of  a  future  state  of  rewards  and 
punishments,  than,  in  any  heathen  country,  any  considerable 
number  of  men  were  found  to  have  had.' l 

After  all,  the  value  of  Christianity  is  not  to  be  appreciated 
by  its  temporal  effects.  The  object  of  revelation  is  to  influence 
human  conduct  in  this  life  ;  but  what  is  gained  to  happiness  by 
that  influence,  can  only  be  estimated  by  taking  in  the  whole  of 
human  existence.  Then,  as  hath  already  been  observed,  there 
may  be  also  great  consequences  of  Christianity,  which  do  not 
belong  to  it  as  a  revelation.  The  effects  upon  human  salva- 
tion, of  the  mission,  of  the  death,  of  the  present,  of  the  future 
agency  of  Christ,  may  be  universal,  though  the  religion  be  not 
universally  known. 

Secondly,  I  assert  that  Christianity  is  charged  with  many 
consequences  for  which  it  is  not  responsible.  I  believe  that 
religious  motives  have  had  no  more  to  do  in  the  formation  of 
nine-tenths  of  the  intolerant  and  persecuting  laws,  which  in 
different  countries  have  been  established  upon  the  subject  of 
religion,  than  they  have  had  to  do  in  England  with  the  making 
of  the  game-laws.  These  measures,  although  they  have  the 
christian  religion  for  their  support,  are  resolvable  into  a  prin- 
ciple which  Christianity  certainly  did  not  plant  (and  which 
Christianity  could  not  universally  condemn,  because  it  is  not 
universally  wrong),  which  principle  is  no  other  than  this,  that 
they  who  are  in  possession  of  power  do  what  they  can  to  keep 
it.  Christianity  is  answerable  for  no  part  of  the  mischief 
which  has  been  brought  upon  the  world  by  persecution,  except 


'  Clark,  Ed.  Nat.  Rev.  p.  208,  ed.  v. 


380  Evidences  of  Christianity.  [Part  III. 

that  which  has  arisen  from  conscientious  persecutors.  Now 
these,  perhaps,  have  never  been  either  numerous  or  powerful. 
Nor  is  it  to  Christianity  that  even  their  mistake  can  fairly  be 
imputed.  They  have  been  misled  by  an  error  not  properly 
christian  or  religious,  but  by  an  error  in  their  moral  philo- 
sophy. They  pursued  the  particular,  without  adverting  to  the 
general  consequence.  Believing  certain  articles  of  faith,  or  a 
certain  mode  of  worship,  to  be  highly  conducive,  or  perhaps 
essential  to  salvation,  they  thought  themselves  bound  to  bring 
all  they  could,  by  every  means,  into  them.  And  this  they 
thought,  without  considering  what  would  be  the  effect  of  such 
a  conclusion,  when  adopted  amongst  mankind  as  a  general  rule 
of  conduct.  Had  there  been  in  the  New  Testament,  what 
there  are  in  the  Koran,  precepts  authorizing  coercion  in  the 
propagation  of  the  religion,  and  the  use  of  violence  towards 
unbelievers,  the  case  would  have  been  different.  This  distinc- 
tion could  not  have  been  taken,  or  this  defence  made. 

I  apologize  for  no  species  nor  degree  of  persecution,  but  I 
think  that  even  the  fact  has  been  exaggerated.  The  slave 
trade  destroys  more  in  a  year,  than  the  inquisition  does  in  a 
hundred,  or  perhaps  hath  done  since  its  foundation.  ^ 

If  it  be  objected,  as  I  apprehend  it  will  be,  that  Chris- 
tianity is  chargeable  with  every  mischief,  of  which  it  has  been 
the  occasion,  though  not  the  motive ;  I  answer,  that  if  the 
malevolent  passions  be  there,  the  world  will  never  want  occa- 
sions. The  noxious  element  will  always  find  a  conductor. 
Any  point  will  produce  an  explosion.  Did  the  applauded  inter- 
community of  the  Pagan  theology  preserve  the  peace  of  the 
Roman  world  ?  Did  it  prevent  oppressions,  proscriptions, 
massacres,  devastations  ?  "Was  it  bigotry  that  carried  Alex- 
ander into  the  East,  or  brought  Caesar  into  Gaul  ?  Are  the 
nations  of  the  world,  into  which  Christianity  hath  not  found 
its  way,  or  from  which  it  hath  been  banished,  free  from  con- 
tentions ?  Are  their  contentions  less  ruinous  and  sanguinary  ? 
Is  it  owing  to  Christianity,  or  to  the  want  of  it,  that  the  finest 
regions  of  the  East,  the  countries  inter  quatuor  maria,  the 
peninsula  of  Greece,  together  with  a  great  part  of  the  Medi- 
terranean coast,  are  at  this  day  a  desert  ?  or  that  the  banks  of 
the  Nile,  whose  constantly  renewed  fertility  is  not  to  be  im- 
paired by  neglect,  or  destroyed  by  the  ravages  of  war,  serve 


Chap,  vii.]        Supposed  Effects  of  Christianity.  381 

only  for  the  scene  of  a  ferocious  anarchy,  or  the  supply  of  un- 
ceasing hostilities?  Europe  itself  has  known  no  religious  wars 
for  some  centuries,  yet  has  hardly  ever  been  without  war.  Are 
the  calamities,  which  at  this  day  inflict  it,  to  be  imputed  to 
Christianity?  Hath  Poland  fallen  by  a  christian  crusade? 
Hath  the  overthrow  in  France,  of  civil  order  and  security, 
been  effected  by  the  votaries  of  our  religion,  or  by  the  foes  ? 
Amongst  the  awful  lessons,  which  the  crimes  and  the  miseries 
of  that  country  aiford  to  mankind,  this  is  one :  that,  in  order  to 
be  a  persecutor,  it  is  not  necessary  to  be  a  bigot:  that  in  rage 
and  cruelty,  in  mischief  and  destruction,  fanaticism  itself  can 
be  outdone  by  infidelity. 

Finally,  If  war,  as  it  is  now  carried  on  between  nations, 
produce  less  misery  and  ruin  than  formerly,  we  are  indebted 
perhaps  to  Christianity  for  the  change,  more  than  to  any  other 
cause.  Viewed  therefore  even  in  its  relation  to  this  subject, 
it  appears  to  have  been  of  advantage  to  the  world.  It  hath 
humanized  the  conduct  of  wars ;  it  hath  ceased  to  excite  them. 

The  differences  of  opinion,  that  have  in  all  ages  prevailed 
amongst  Christians,  fall  very  much  within  the  alternative 
which  has  been  stated.  If  we  possessed  the  disposition  which 
Christianity  labors,  above  all  other  qualities,  to  inculcate,  these 
differences  would  do  little  harm.  If  that  disposition  be  want- 
ing, other  causes,  even  were  these  absent,  would  continually 
rise  up,  to  call  forth  the  malevolent  passions  into  action.  Dif- 
ferences of  opinion,  when  accompanied  with  mutual  charity, 
which  Christianity  forbids  them  to  violate,  are  for  the  most 
part  innocent,  and  for  some  purposes  useful.  They  promote 
inquiry,  discussion,  and  knowledge.  They  help  to  keep  up  an 
attention  to  religious  subjects,  and  a  concern  about  them, 
which  might  be  apt  to  die  away  in  the  calm  and  silence  of 
universal  agreement.  I  do  not  know  that  it  is  in  any  degree 
true,  that  the  influence  of  religion  is  the  greatest,  where  there 
are  the  fewest  dissenters. 


382  Evidences  of  Christianity.  [Part  III. 


ANNOTATIONS. 

'  Christianity,  in  every  country  in  which  it  is  professed,  hath 
obtained  a  sensible,  thotigh  not  a  complete  influence  on  the 
public  judgment  of  morals? 

A  very  intelligent  traveller  who  has  resided  in  various  parts 
of  Europe,  Asia,  and  Africa,  told  me  that  one  of  the  circum- 
stances that  most  struck  him  in  all  the  regions  he  had  visited, 
was,  the  effects  of  the  religion  professed  by  each  class  of  men, 
in  reference  to  their  state  of  civilization,  and  the  superiority 
obtained — peaceably  and  silently — by  one  class  over  another. 
He  found  the  Mahometans  thus  gaining  ground  everywhere  on 
Pagans  ;  the  Jews,  on  Mahometans ;  the  Christians,  on  Jews ; 
and  the  Christians  of  reformed  Churches,  on  those  of  the  un- 
reformed. 

It  is  from  a  general  and  wide  view  like  this,  that  we  can 
most  fairly  estimate  the  true  tendency  of  any  cause  that  is  in 
operation. 

i 

'  The  slave-trade  destroys  more  in  a  year,  than  the  Ingydsition 

does  in  a  hundred!1 

It  would  be  a  great  mistake,  however,  to  measure  the  evil  of 
persecution  by  the  amount  of  destruction  of  human  life  which 
it  has  occasioned.  The  chief  part  of  that  evil  consists  in  the 
terror, — the  suspicions — the  mutual  distrust — the  debasing 
mental  slavery — the  insincere  profession,  and  covert  infidelity, 
which  spring  from  it.  But  as  for  the  destruction  of  life,  we 
should  remember  that  that  will  always  be  the  least,  wherever 
the  system  of  persecution  has  been  the  most  fully  and  effi- 
ciently carried  out.  No  tree  is  withered  by  the  piercing  frosts 
of  the  Polar  regions,  or  by  the  scorching  drought  of  the  African 
deserts  ;  because  no  tree  exists  there.  And  whenever  all — so- 
called — heretics  have  been  either  exterminated,  or  forced  into 
outward  conformity,  the  fires  of  an  Inquisition  go  out  for  lack 
of  fuel. 

I  have  mentioned  among  the  evils  of  persecution  the  secret 
infidelity  caused  by  it.  When  any  one  is  haunted  with  doubts 
concerning  a  religion  which  he  is  compelled  to  profess,  he 
cannot  discuss  such  doubts  with  persons  who  might  perhaps 
help  to  clear  them  up,  because  he  /lares  not  acknowledge  them 


Chap,  viii.]  The  Conclusion.  383 

at  all.  And  he  has  always  reason  to  suspect  that  his  neighbors 
may  be  secret  unbelievers ;  since  he  knows,  that,  if  they  are 
so,  they  dare  not  avow  it. 

It  is  pretty  well  known  accordingly  that  in  those  European 
States  where  the  utmost  intolerance  prevails,  utter  disbelief  of 
Christianity  among  the  educated  classes,  is  rather  the  rule  than 
the  exception. 

And  the  like  takes  place,  though  in  a  minor  degree,  wher- 
ever the  intolerant  principle  is  less  fully  carried  out :  that  is, 
where  Christians,  or  those  of  a  particular  Church,  claim,  as 
such,  a  monopoly  of  political  power,  and  exclude  others,  merely 
on  the  ground  of  religious  error,  from  civil  rights  and  privileges. 

Considering  how  utterly  foreign  from  the  whole  character  of 
the  Gospel  is  all  intolerance,  and  how  much  the  Gospel  itself 
was  for  a  long  time  the  subject  of  persecution,  there  is  no  need 
for  any  attempt  to  palliate  it  by  an  advocate  of  Christianity. 

But  it  is  important  to  observe  that  a  strong  evidence  of  the 
truth  of  our  Religion  is  afforded  by  the  deplorable  spectacle  of 
persecution  practised  by  its  votaries.  For  when  we  see  how 
strong  is  the  proneness  to  persecution,  in  Man  in  his  unregene- 
rate  state, — so  strong,  that  it  is  practised,  and  even  vindicated, 
by  the  professors  of  a  Religion  most  emphatically  opposed  to  it, 
this  affords  a  very  strong  presumption  that  such  a  religion 
could  not  have  proceeded  from  Man} 

A  religion  of  human  devising,  would,  we  may  be  sure,  have 
been  as  intolerant  in  its  principles  as  the  Mahometan.  Perse- 
cution, therefore,  as  well  as  other  corruptions  which  have  crept 
into  Christianity  in  manifest  opposition  to  the  spirit  of  it,  while 
they  prove  a  stumbling-block  to  the  perverse  and  the  thought- 
less, furnish  to  the  candid  and  diligent  a  confirmation  of  faith. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

Tlic  Conclusion. 


I~N  religion,  as  in  every  other  subject  of  human  reasoning, 
much  depends  upon  the  order  in  which  we  dispose  our  in- 
quiries.    A  man  who  takes  up  a  system  of  divinity  with  a 

1  See  Essays,  4th  Series,  '  On  the  Dangers  to  the  Christian  Faith.' 


384  Evidences  of  Christianity.  [Fart  III. 

previous  opinion  that  either  every  part  must  be  true,  or  the 
whole  false,  approaches  the  discussion  with  great  disadvantage. 
No  other  system,  which  is  founded  upon  moral  evidence, 
would  bear  to  be  treated  in  the  same  manner.  Nevertheless, 
in  a  certain  degree,  we  are  all  introduced  to  our  religious  stu- 
dies under  this  prejudication.  And  it  cannot  be  avoided.  The 
weakness  of  the  human  judgment  in  the  early  part  of  youth, 
yet  its  extreme  susceptibility  of  impression,  renders  it  necessary 
to  furnish  it  with  some  opinions,  and  with  some  principles,  or 
other.  Or  indeed,  without  much  express  care,  or  much  endea- 
vor for  this  purpose,  the  tendency  of  the  mind  of  man  to  assi- 
milate itself  to  the  habits  of  thinking  and  speaking  which  pre- 
vail around  him,  produces  the  same  effect.  That  indifferency 
and  suspense,  that  waiting  and  equilibrium  of  the  judgment, 
which  some  require  in  religious  matters,  and  which  some 
would  wish  to  be  aimed  at  in  the  conduct  of  education,  are 
impossible  to  be  preserved.  They  are  not  given  to  the  condi- 
tion of  human  life. 

It  is  a  consequence  of  this  situation  that  the  doctrines  of 
religion  come  to  us  before  the  proofs;  and  come  to"us  with 
that  mixture  of  explications  and  inferences  from  which  nonpub- 
lic creed  is,  or  can  be,  free.  And  the  effect  which  too  fre 
quently  follows,  from  Christianity  being  presented  to  the  un- 
derstanding in  this  form,  is,  that  when  any  articles,  which  ap- 
pear as  parts  of  it,  contradict  the  apprehension  of  the  persons 
to  whom  it  is  proposed,  men  of  rash  and  confident  tempers 
hastily  and  indiscriminately  reject  the  whole.  But  is  this  to  do 
justice,  either  to  themselves,  or  to  the  religion?  The  rational 
way  of  treating  a  subject  of  such  acknowledged  importance  is 
to  attend,  in  the  first  place,  to  the  general  and  substantial  truth 
of  its  principles,  and  to  that  alone.  When  we  once  feel  a  foun- 
dation ;  when  we  once  perceive  a  ground  of  credibility  in  its 
history,  we  shall  proceed  with  safety  to  inquire  into  the  inter- 
pretation of  its  records,  and  into  the  doctrines  which  have  been 
deduced  from  them.  Nor  will  it  either  endanger  our  faith,  or 
diminish  or  alter  our  motives  for  obedience,  if  we  should  dis- 
cover that  these  conclusions  are  formed  with  very  different 
degrees  of  probability,  and  possess  very  different  degrees  of 
importance. 

This  conduct  of  the  understanding,  dictated  by  every  rule 


Chap,  viii.]  Conclusion.  385 

of  right  reasoning,  will  uphold  personal  Christianity,  even  in 
those  countries  in  which  it  is  established  under  forms  the  most 
liable  to  difficulty  and  objection.  It  will  also  have  the  further 
effect  of  guarding  us  against  the  prejudices  which  are  wont  to 
arise  in  our  minds  to  the  disadvantage  of  religion,  from  ob- 
serving the  numerous  controversies  which  are  carried  on  amongst 
its  professors ;  and  likewise  of  inducing  a  spirit  of  lenity  and 
moderation  in  our  judgment,  as  well  as  in  our  treatment  of 
those  who  stand,  in  such  controversies,  upon  sides  opposite  to 
ours.  What  is  clear  in  Christianity  we  shall  find  to  be  suffi- 
cient, and  to  be  infinitely  valuable ;  what  is  dubious,  unnecessary 
to  be  decided,  or  of  very  subordinate  importance ;  and  what  is 
most  obscure,  will  teach  us  to  bear  with  the  opinions  which 
others  may  have  formed  upon  the  same  subject.  We  shall 
say  to  those  who  the  most  widely  dissent  from  us,  what  Au- 
gustine said  to  the  worst  heretics  of  his  age :  '  Illi  in  vos 
sseviant,  qui  nesciunt,  cum  quo  labore  verum  inveniatur,  et 
quam  difficile  caveantur  errores  .  .  .  qui  nesciunt,  cum  quanta 
difficultate  sanetur  oculus  interioris  hominis  .  .  .  qui  nesciunt, 
quibus  suspiriis  et  gemitibus  fiat,  ut  ex  quantulacunque  parte 
possit  intelligi  Dens.'1 

A  judgment,  moreover,  which  is  once  pretty  well  satisfied  of 
the  general  truth  of  the  religion,  will  not  only  thus  discrimi- 
nate in  its  doctrines,  but  will  possess  sufficient  strength  to 
overcome  the  reluctance  of  the  imagination  to  admit  articles  of 
faith  which  are  attended  with  difficulty  of  apprehension,  if  such 
articles  of  faith  appear  to  be  truly  parts  of  the  revelation.  It 
was  to  be  expected  beforehand,  that  what  related  to  the  eco- 
nomy, and  to  the  persons,  of  the  invisible  world,  which  revela- 
tion professes  to  do,  and  which,  if  true,  it  actually  does,  should 
contain  some  points  remote  from  our  analogies,  and  from  the 
comprehension  of  a  mind  which  hath  acquired  all  its  ideas 
from  sense  and  from  experience. 

It  hath  been  my  care,  in  the  preceding  work,  to  preserve  the 
separation  between  evidences  and  doctrines  as  inviolable  as  I 
could ;  to  remove  from  the  primary  question  all  considerations 
which  have  been  unnecessarily  joined  with  it ;  and  to  offer  a 
defence  to  Christianity,  which  every  Christian  might  read,  with- 


Aug.  contr.  Ep.  Fund.  cap.  ii.  n.  2,  3. 
25 


386  Evidences  of  Christianity.  [Part  III. 

out  seeing  the  tenets  in  which  he  had  been  brought  up  attacked 
or  decried  :  and  it  always  afforded  a  satisfaction  to  my  mind  to 
observe  that  this  was  practicable  ;  that  few  or  none  of  our 
many  controversies  with  one  another  affect  or  relate  to  the  proofs 
of  our  religion  ;  that  the  rent  never  descends  to  the  foundation. 
The  truth  of  Christianity  depends  upon  its  leading  facts, 
and  upon  them  alone.  Now  of  these  we  have  evidence  which 
ought  to  satisfy  us,  at  least  until  it  appear  that  mankind  have 
ever  been  deceived  by  the  same.  We  have  some  uncontested 
and  incontestable  points,  to  which  the  history  of  the  human 
species  has  nothing  similar  to  offer.  A  Jewish  peasant  changed 
the  religion  of  the  world  :  and  that,  without  force,  without 
power,  without  support ;  without  one  natural  source  or  circum- 
stance of  attraction,  influence,  or  success.  Such  a  thing  hath 
not  happened  in  any  other  instance.  The  companions  of  this 
person,  after  he  himself  had  been  put  to  death  for  his  attempt, 
asserted  his  supernatural  character,  founded  upon  his  super- 
natural operations;  and,  in  testimony  of  the  truth  of  their 
assertions,  i.  e.  in  consequence  of  their  own  belief  of  that  truth, 
and  in  order  to  communicate  the  knowledge  of  it  to  others, 
voluntarily  entered  upon  lives  of  toil  and  hardship,  andiwith 
a  full  experience  of  their  danger,  committed  themselves  to  the 
last  extremities  of  persecution.  This  hath  not  a  parallel. 
More  particularly,  a  very  few  days  after  this  person  had  been 
publicly  executed,  and  in  the  very  city  in  which  he  was  buried, 
these  his  companions  declared  with  one  voice  that  his  body 
was  restored  to  life ;  that  they  had  seen  him,  handled  him, 
eat  with  him,  conversed  with  him  ;  and,  in  pursuance  of  their 
persuasion  of  the  truth  of  what  they  told,  preached  his  religion, 
with  this  strange  fact  as  the  foundation  of  it,  in  the  face  of 
those  who  had  killed  him,  who  were  armed  with  the  power  of 
the  country,  and  necessarily  and  naturally  disposed  to  treat  his 
followers  as  they  had  treated  himself;  and  having  done  this 
upon  the  spot  where  the  event  took  place,  carried  the  intelli- 
gence of  it  abroad,  in  despite  of  difficulties  and  opposition,  and 
where  the  nature  of  their  errand  gave  them  nothing  to  expect 
but  derision,  insult,  and  outrage.  This  is  without  example. 
These  three  facts,  I  think,  are  certain,  and  would  have  been 
nearly  so,  if  the  gospels  had  never  been  written.  The  ehris- 
tian  story,  as   to   these  points,  hath   never  varied.     No  other 


Chap,  viii.]  Conclusion.  387 

hath  been  set  up  against  it.  Every  letter,  every  discourse, 
every  controversy,  amongst  the  followers  of  the  religion  :  every 
book  written  by  them,  from  the  age  of  its  commencement  to 
the  present  time,  in  every  part  of  the  world  in  which  it  hath 
been  professed,  and  with  every  sect  into  which  it  hath  been 
divided  (and  we  have  letters  and  discourses  written  by  contem- 
poraries, by  witnesses  of  the  transaction,  by  persons  themselves 
bearing  a  share  in  it,  and  other  writings  following  that  age  in 
regular  succession),  concur  in  representing  these  facts  in  this 
manner.  A  religion,  which  now  possesses  the  greatest  part  of 
the  civilized  world,  unquestionably  sprang  up  at  Jerusalem  at 
this  time.  Some  account  must  be  given  of  its  origin ;  some 
cause  assigned  for  its  rise.  All  the  accounts  of  this  origin,  all 
the  explications  of  this  cause,  whether  taken  from  the  writings 
of  the  early  followers  of  the  religion  (in  which,  and  in  which 
perhaps  alone,  it  could  be  expected  that  they  should  be  dis- 
tinctly unfolded)  or  from  occasional  notices  in  other  writings 
of  that  or  the  adjoining  age,  either  expressly  allege  the  facts 
above  stated  as  the  means  by  which  the  religion  was  set  up,  or 
advert  to  its  commencement  in  a  manner  which  agrees  with 
the  supposition  of  these  facts  being  true,  and  which  testifies 
their  operation  and  effects. 

These  propositions  alone  lay  a  foundation  for  our  faith  ;  for 
they  prove  the  existence  of  a  transaction,  which  cannot  even  in 
its  most  general  parts  be  accounted  for,  upon  any  reasonable 
supposition,  except  that  of  the  truth  of  the  mission.  But  the 
particulars,  the  detail  of  the  miracles  or  miraculous  pretences 
(for  such  there  necessarily  must  have  been)  upon  which  this 
unexampled  transaction  rested,  andfor  which  these  men  acted 
and  suffered  as  they  did  act  and  suffer,  it  is  undoubtedly  of 
great  importance  to  us  to  know.  We  have  this  detail  from 
the  fountain  head,  from  the  persons  themselves ;  in  accounts 
written  by  eye-witnesses  of  the  scene,  by  contemporaries  and 
companions  of  those  who  were  so ;  not  in  one  book,  but  four, 
each  containing  enough  for  the  verification  of  the  religion,  all 
agreeing  in  the  fundamental  parts  of  the  history.  We  have 
the  authenticity  of  these  books  established,  by  more  and  stronger 
proofs  than  belong  to  almost  any  other  ancient  book  whatever, 
and  by  proofs  which  widely  distinguish  them  from  any  others 
claiming  a  similar  authority  to  theirs.     If  there  were  any  good 


388  Evidences  of  Christianity.  [Part  III. 

reason  for  doubt  concerning  the  names  to  which  these  books 
are  ascribed  (which  there  is  not,  for  they  were  never  ascribed 
to  any  other,  and  we  have  evidence  not  long  after  their  publi- 
cation  of  their  bearing  the  names  which  they  now  bear),  their 
antiquity,  of  which  there  is  no  question,  their  reputation  and 
authority  amongst  the  early  disciples  of  the  religion,  of  which 
there  is  as  little,  form  a  valid  proof  that  they  must,  in  the  main 
at  least,  have  agreed  with  what  the  first  teachers  of  the  reli- 
gion  delivered. 

When  we  open  these  ancient  volumes,  we  discover  in  them 
marks  of  truth,  whether  we  consider  each  in  itself,  or  collate 
them  with  one  another.  The  writers  certainly  knew  something 
of  what  they  were  writing  about,  for  they  manifest  an  acquaint- 
ance with  local  circumstances,  with  the  history  and  usages  of 
the  times,  which  could  only  belong  to  an  inhabitant  of  that 
country,  living  in  that  age.  In  every  narrative  we  perceive 
simplicity  and  undesignedness ;  the  air  and  the  language  of 
reality.  When  we  compare  the  different  narratives  together, 
we  find  them  so  varying  as  to  repel  all  suspicion  of  confeder- 
acy; so  agreeing  under  this  variety,  as  to  show  that"  the  ac- 
counts had  one  real  transaction  for  their  common  foundation  ; 
often  attributing  different  actions  and  discourses,  to  the  person 
whose  history,  or  rather  memoirs  of  whose  history,  they  profess 
to  relate,  yet  actions  and  discourses  so  similar,  as  very  much 
to  bespeak  the  same  character;  which  is  a  coincidence,  that,  in 
such  writers  as  they  were,  could  only  be  the  consequence  of 
their  writing  from  fact,  and  not  from  imagination. 

These  four  narratives  are  confined  to  the  history  of  the 
founder  of  the  religion,  and  end  with  his  ministry.  Since,  how- 
ever, it  is  certain  that  the  affair  went  on,  we  cannot  help  being 
anxious  to  know  hoio  it  proceeded.  This  intelligence  hath 
come  down  to  us  in  a  work  purporting  to  be  written  by  a 
person,  himself  connected  with  the  business  during  the  first 
Mages  of  its  progress,  taking  up  the  story  where  the  former  his- 
tories had  left  it,  carrying  on  the  narrative,  oftentimes  with 
great  particularity,  and  throughout  with  the  appearance  of  good 
sense,1  information,  and  candor:   stating  all  along  the  origin, 

'  See  Peter's  speech  upon  curing  the  cripple  (Acts  iii.  18).  the  council  of  the 
apostles  (xv.),  Paul's  discourse  at  Athens  i  xvii.  •-!  .  before  A^rippa  ixxvi.V  I 
notice  these  passages,  both  as  fraught  with  good  sense,  and  as  free  from  the 
smallest  tincture  of  enthusiasm. 


Chap,  viii.]  Conclusion.  389 

and  the  only  probable  origin,  of  effects  which  unquestionably 
were  produced,  together  with  the  natural  consequences  of 
situations  which  unquestionably  did  exist ;  and  confirmed,  in 
the  substance  at  least  of  the  account,  by  the  strongest  pos- 
sible accession  of  testimony  which  a  history  can  receive,  ori- 
ginal letters,  written  by  the  person  who  is  the  principal  sub- 
ject of  the  history,  written  upon  the  business  to  which  the 
history  relates,  and  during  the  period,  or  soon  after  the  period, 
which  the  history  comprises.  No  man  can  say  that  this  alto- 
gether is  not  a  body  of  strong  historical  evidence. 

When  we  reflect  that  some  of  those  from  whom  the  books 
proceeded,  are  related  to  have  themselves  wrought  miracles,  to 
have  been  the  subject  of  miracles,  or  of  supernatural  assistance 
in  propagating  the  religion,  we  may  perhaps  be  led  to  think, 
that  more  credit,  or  a  different  kind  of  credit,  is  due  to  these 
accounts,  than  what  can  be  claimed  by  merely  human  testi- 
mony. But  this  is  an  argument  which  cannot  be  addressed  to 
skeptics  or  unbelievers.  A  man  must  be  a  Christian  before  he 
can  receive  it.  The  inspiration  of  the  historical  scriptures,  the 
nature,  degree,  and  extent  of  that  inspiration,  are  questions 
undoubtedly  of  serious  discussion,  but  they  are  questions 
amongst  Christians  themselves,  and  not  between  them  and 
others.  The  doctrine  itself  is  by  no  means  necessary  to  the  be- 
lief of  Christianity,  which  must,  in  the  first  instance  at  least, 
depend  upon  the  ordinary  maxims  of  historical  credibility.1 

In  viewing  the  detail  of  miracles  recorded  in  these  books, 
we  find  every  supposition  negatived,  by  which  they  can  be  re- 
solved into  fraud  or  delusion.  They  were  not  secret,  nor 
momentary,  nor  tentative,  nor  ambiguous ;  nor  performed  under 
the  sanction  of  authority,  with  the  spectators  on  their  side,  or 
in  affirmance  of  tenets  and  practices  already  established.  We 
find  also  the  evidence  alleged  for  them,  and  which  evidence  was 
by  great  numbers  received,  different  from  that  upon  which 
other  miraculous  accounts  rest.  It  was  contemporary,  it  was 
published  upon  the  spot,  it  continued  ;  it  involved  interests  and 
questions  of  the  greatest  magnitude  ;  it  contradicted  the  most 
fixed  persuasions  and  prejudices  of  the  persons  to  whom  it  was 
addressed  ;  it  required  from  those  who  accepted  it,  not  a  simple 


1  See  Powell's  Discourses,  dis.  xv.  p.  2-45. 


390  Evidences  of  Christianity.  [Part  III. 

indolent  assent,  but  a  change,  from  thenceforward,  of  principles 
and  conduct,  a  submission  to  consequences  the  most  serious 
and  the  most  deterring,  to  loss  and  danger,  to  insult,  outrage, 
and  persecution.  How  such  a  story  should  be  false,  or,  if 
false,  how  under  such  circumstances  it  should  make  its  way,  I 
think  impossible  to  be  explained  :  yet  such  the  christian  story 
was,  such  were  the  circumstances  under  which  it  came  forth, 
and  in  opposition  to  such  difficulties  did  it  prevail. 

An  event  so  connected  with  the  religion,  and  with  the  for- 
tunes, of  the  Jewish  people,  as  one  of  their  race,  one  born 
amongst  them,  establishing  his  authority  and  his  law  through- 
out a  great  portion  of  the  civilized  world,  it  was  perhaps  to  be 
expected,  should  be  noticed  in  the  prophetic  writings  of  that 
nation ;  especially  when  this  person,  together  with  his  own 
mission,  caused  also  to  be  acknowledged  the  divine  original  of 
their  institution,  and  by  those  who  before  had  altogether  re- 
jected it.  Accordingly  we  perceive  in  these  writings,  various 
intimations  concurring  in  the  person  and  history  of  Jesus,  in  a 
manner,  and  in  a  degree,  in  which  passages  taken  from  these 
books  could  not  be  made  to  concur  in  any  person  arbitrarily 
assumed,  or  in  any  person,  except  him,  who  has  been  the  author 
of  great  changes  in  the  affairs  and  opinions  of  mankinds  Of 
some  of  these  predictions  the  weight  depends  a  good  deal  upon 
the  concurrence.  Others  possess  great  separate  strength  ;  one 
in  particular  does  this  in  an  eminent  degree.  It  is  an  entire 
description,  manifestly  directed  to  one  character  and  to  one 
scene  of  things :  it  is  extant  in  a  writing,  or  collection  of 
writings,  declaredly  prophetic  ;  and  it  applies  to  Christ's  cha- 
racter, and  to  the  circumstances  of  his  life  and  death,  with  con- 
siderable precision,  and  in  a  way  which  no  diversity  of  inter- 
pretation hath,  in  my  opinion,  been  able  to  confound.  That 
the  advent  of  Christ,  and  the  consequences  of  it,  should  not 
have  been  more  distinctly  revealed  in  the  Jewish  sacred  books, 
is,  I  think,  in  some  measure  accounted  for  by  the  consideration, 
that  for  the  Jews  to  have  foreseen  the  tall  of  their  institution, 
and  that  it  was  to  merge  at  length  into  a  more  perfect  and 
comprehensive  dispensation,  would  have  cooled  too  much,  and 
relaxed,  their  zeal  for  it,  and  their  adherence  to  it,  upon  which 
zeal  and  adherence  the  preservation  in  the  world  of  any  remains, 
lor  many  ages,  of  religions  truth  might  in  a  great  measure  depend. 


Chap,  viii.]  Conclusion.  391 

Of  what  a  revelation  discloses  to  mankind,  one,  and  only 
one,  question  can  properly  be  asked,  '  Was  it  of  importance  to 
mankind  to  know,  or  to  be  better  assured  of?'  In  this  question, 
when  we  turn  our  thoughts  to  the  great  christian  doctrine  of 
the  resurrection  of  the  dead,  and  of  a  future  judgment,  no 
doubt  can  possibly  be  entertained.  He  who  gives  me  riches  or 
honors  does  nothing ;  he  who  even  gives  me  health  does 
little,  in  comparison  with  that  which  lays  before  me  just 
grounds  for  expecting  a  restoration  to  life,  and  a  day  of 
account  and  retribution :  which  thing  Christianity  hath  done 
for  millions. 

Other  articles  of  the  christian  faith,  although  of  infinite 
importance  when  placed  beside  any  other  topic  of  human 
inquiry,  are  only  the  adjuncts  and  circumstances  of  this.  They 
are  however  such  as  appear  worthy  of  the  original  to  which 
we  ascribe  them.  The  morality  of  the  religion,  whether  taken 
from  the  precepts  or  the  example  of  its  founder,  or  from  the 
lessons  of  its  primitive  teachers,  derived,  as  it  should  seem, 
from  what  had  been  inculcated  by  their  master,  is,  in  all  its 
parts,  wise  and  pure  ;  neither  adapted  to  vulgar  prejudices,  nor 
flattering  popular  notions,  nor  excusing  established  practices, 
but  calculated,  in  the  matter  of  its  instruction,  truly  to  promote 
human  happiness,  and,  in  the  form  in  which  it  was  conveyed, 
to  produce  impression  and  effect ;  a  morality,  which,  let  it  have 
proceeded  from  any  person  whatever,  would  have  been  satis- 
factory evidence  of  his  good  sense  and  integrity,  of  the  sound- 
ness of  his  understanding  and  the  probity  of  his  designs ;  a 
morality,  in  every  view  of  it,  much  more  perfect  than  could  have 
been  expected  from  the  natural  circumstances  and  character  of 
the  person  who  delivered  it ;  a  morality,  in  a  word,  which  is, 
and  hath  been,  most  beneficial  to  mankind. 

Upon  the  greatest  therefore  of  all  possible  occasions,  and  for 
a  purpose  of  inestimable  value,  it  pleased  the  Deity  to  vouch- 
safe a  miraculous  attestation.  Having  done  this  for  the  insti- 
tution, when  this  alone  could  fix  its  authority,  or  give  to  it  a 
beginning,  he  committed  its  future  progress  to  the  natural 
means  of  human  communication,  and  to  the  influence  of  those 
causes  bv  which  human  conduct  and  human  affairs  are  governed. 
The  seed  being  sown,  was  left  to  vegetate ;  the  leaven  being 
inserted,  was  left  to  ferment;  and  both  according  to  the  laws 


392  Evidences  of  Christianity.  [Part.  III. 

of  nature :  laws,  nevertheless,  disposed  and  controlled  by  that 
Providence  which  conducts  the  affairs  of  the  universe,  though 
by  an  influence  inscrutable,  and  generally  undistingnishable  by 
us.  And  in  this,  Christianity  is  analogous  to  most  other  pro- 
visions for  happiness.  The  provision  is  made  ;  and  being  made, 
is  left  to  act  according  to  laws,  which,  forming  part  of  a  more 
general  system,  regulate  this  particular  subject  in  common 
with  many  others. 

Let  the  constant  recurrence  to  our  observation  of  contrivance, 
design,  and  wisdom  in  the  works  of  nature,  once  fix  upon  our 
minds  the  belief  of  a  God,  and  after  that  all  is  easy.  In  the 
counsels  of  a  being  possessed  of  the  power  and  disposition 
which  the  Creator  of  the  universe  must  possess,  it  is  not  im- 
probable that  there  should  be  a  future  state  ;  it  is  not  impro- 
bable that  we  should  be  accpiaintcd  with  it.  A  future  state 
rectifies  every  thing ;  because  if  moral  agents  be  made,  in  the 
last  event,  happy  or  miserable,  according  to  their  conduct  in 
the  station  and  under  the  circumstances  in  which  they  are 
placed,  it  seems  not  very  material-  by  the  operation  of  what 
causes,  according  to  what  rules,  or  even,  if  you  please  to  call  it 
so,  by  what  chance  or  caprice,  these  stations  are  assigned,  or 
these  circumstances  determined.  This  hypothesis,  therefore, 
solves  all  that  objection  to  the  divine  care  and  goodness,  which 
the  promiscuous  distribution  of  good  and  evil  (I  do  not  mean 
in  the  doubtful  advantages  of  riches  and  grandeur,  but  in  the 
unquestionably  important  difficulties  of  health  and  sickness, 
strength  and  infirmity,  bodily  ease  and  pain,  mental  alacrity 
and  depression)  is  apt  on  so  many  occasions  to  create.  This 
one  truth  changes  the  nature  of  things:  gives  order  to  confu- 
sion  :  makes  the  moral  world  of  a  piece  with  the  natural. 

Nevertheless,  a  higher  degree  of  assurance  than  that  to  which 
it  is  possible  to  advance  this,  or  any  argument  drawn  from  the 
light  of  nature,  was  necessary,  especially  to  overcome  the  shock 
which  the  imagination  and  the  senses  receive  from  the  effects 
and  the  appearances  of  death  ;  and  the  obstruction  which  from 
thence  arises  to  the  expectation  of  either  a  continued  or  a  fu- 
ture existence.  This  difficulty,  although  of  a  nature,  no  doubt, 
to  act  very  forcibly,  will  be  found,  I  think,  upon  reflection,  to  re- 
side more  in  our  habits  of  apprehension,  than  in  the  subject;  and 
that  the  giving  way  to  it,  when  we  have  any  reasonable  grounds 


Chap,  viii.]  Conclusion.  393 

for  the  contrary,  is  rather  an  indulging  of  the  imagination, 
than  any  thing  else.  Abstractedly  considered,  that  is,  con- 
sidered without  relation  to  the  difference  which  habit,  and 
merely  habit,  produces  in  our  faculties  and  modes  of  apprehen- 
sion, I  do  not  see  any  thing  more  in  the  resurrection  of  a  dead 
man,  than  in  the  conception  of  a  child ;  except  it  be  this,  that 
the  one  comes  into  his  world  with  a  system  of  prior  conscious- 
ness about  him,  which  the  other  does  not ;  and  no  person  will 
say,  that  he  knows  enough  of  either  subject  to  perceive,  that 
this  circumstance  makes  such  a  difference  in  the  two  cases, 
that  the  one  should  be  easy,  and  the  other  impossible ;  the  one 
natural,  the  other  not  so.  To  the  first  man  the  succession  of 
the  species  would  be  as  incomprehensible,  as  the  resurrection 
of  the  dead  is  to  us. 

Thought  is  different  from  motion,  perception  from  impact : 
the  individuality  of  a  mind  is  hardly  consistent  with  the  divi- 
sibility of  an  extended  substance ;  or  its  volition,  that  is,  its 
power  of  originating  motion,  with  the  inertness  which  cleaves 
to  every  portion  of  matter  which  our  observation  or  our  expe- 
riments can  reach.  These  distinctions  lead  us  to  an  immaterial 
principle :  at  least,  they  do  this ;  they  so  negative  the  mechani- 
cal properties  of  matter,  in  the  constitution  of  a  sentient,  still 
more  of  a  rational  being,  that  no  argument,  drawn  from  these 
properties,  can  be  of  any  great  weight  in  opposition  to  other 
reasons,  when  the  question  respects  the  changes  of  which  such 
a  nature  is  capable,  or  the  manner  in  which  these  changes  are 
effected.  Whatever  thought  be,  or  whatever  it  depend  upon, 
the  regular  experience  of  sleep  makes  one  thing  concerning  it 
certain,  that  it  can  be  completely  suspended,  and  completely 
restored. 

If  any  one  find  it  too  great  a  strain  upon  his  thoughts,  to 
admit  the  notion  of  a  substance  strictly  immaterial,  that  is, 
from  which  extension  and  solidity  are  excluded,  he  can  find  no 
difficulty  in  allowing,  that  a  particle  as  small  as  a  particle  of 
light,  minuter  than  all  conceivable  dimensions,  may  just  as 
easily  be  the  depository,  the  organ,  and  the  vehicle  of  con- 
sciousness, as  the  congeries  of  animal  substance  which  forms  a 
human  body,  or  the  human  brain ;  that,  being  so,  it  may 
transfer  a  proper  identity  to  whatever  shall  hereafter  be  united 
to  it;  may  be  safe  amidst  the  destruction  of  its  integuments; 


394  Evidences  of  Christianity.  [Part  ITT. 

may  connect  the  natural  with  the  spiritual,  the  corruptible  with 
the  glorified  body.  If  it  be  said,  that  the  mode  and  means  of 
all  this  is  imperceptible  by  our  senses,  it  is  only  what  is  true 
of  the  most  important  agencies  and  operations.  The  great 
powers  of  nature  are  all  invisible.  Gravitation,  electricity, 
magnetism,  though  constantly  present,  and  constantly  exerting 
their  influence ;  though  within  us,  near  us,  and  about  us ; 
though  diffused  throughout  all  space,  overspreading  the  surface, 
or  penetrating  the  contexture  of  all  bodies  with  which  we  are 
acquainted,  depend  upon  substances  and  actions  which  are 
totally  concealed  from  our  senses.  The  Supreme  Intelligence 
is  so  himself. 

But  whether  these  or  any  other  attempts  to  satisfy  the  ima- 
gination, bear  any  resemblance  to  the  truth,  or  whether  the 
imagination,  which,  as  I  have  said  before,  is  the  mere  slave  of 
habit,  can  be  satisfied,  or  not;  when  a  future  state,  and  the 
revelation  of  a  future  state,  is  not  only  perfectly  consistent 
with  the  attributes  of  the  Being  who  governs  the  universe ; 
but  when  it  is  more ;  when  it  alone  removes  the  appearances 
of  contrariety  which  attend  the  operations  of  his  will  towards 
creatures  capable  of  comparative  merit  and  demerit,  of  reward 
and  punishment ;  when  a  strong  body  of  historical  evidence, 
confirmed  by  many  internal  tokens  of  truth  and  authenticity, 
gives  us  just  reason  to  believe  that  such  a  revelation  hath  actu- 
ally been  made ;  we  ought  to  set  our  minds  at  rest  with  the 
assurance,  that,  in  the  resources  of  creative  wisdom,  expedients 
cannot  be  wanted  to  carry  into  effect  what  the  Deity  hath  pur- 
posed: that  either  a  new  and  mighty  influence  will  descend 
upon  the  human  world,  to  resuscitate  extinguished  conscious- 
ness; or  that,  amidst  the  other  wonderful  contrivances  witli 
which  the  universe  abounds,  and  by  some  of  which  we  see 
animal  life,  in  many  instances,  assuming  improved  forms  of  ex- 
istence, acquiring  new  organs,  new  perceptions,  and  new  sources 
of  enjoyment,  provision  is  also  made,  though  by  methods  secret 
to  us  (as  all  the  great  processes  of  nature  are),  for  conducting 
the  objects  of  God's  moral  government,  through  the  necessary 
changes  of  their  frame,  to  those  filial  distinctions  of  happiness 
and  misery,  which  he  hath  declared  to  be  reserved  for  obedience 
and  transgression,  for  virtue  and  vice,  for  the  use  and  the  neg- 
lect, the  right  and  the  wrong  employment  of  the  faculties  and 


Cheap,  viii.  Annotations.  395 

opportunities  with  which  he  hath  been  pleased,  severally,  to 
intrust,  and  to  try  us. 


ANNOTATIONS. 

'  Whatever  thought  be,  the  experience  of  sleep  makes  it  certain 
that  it  can  be  completely  suspended? 

It  would  have  been  better  if  Paley  had  taken  the  case  of  a 
fainting-fit,  or  some  other  such.  Whether,  in  sleep,  thought 
is  ever  completely  suspended,  is  a  disputed  point :  but  that  it  is 
not  always,  is  certain.  Some  have  doubted  whether  in  sleep 
we  ever  cease  to  dream  ;  but  that  we  do  dream,  every  one 
knows.     [See  Lessons  on  Mind.] 

i  A  strong  body  of  historical  evidence,  confirmed  by  many 
internal  tokens  of  truth.1 

It  is  important  to  remember  that  the  evidence  which  has 
been  adduced  in  the  foregoing  pages,  is  cumulative;  i.  e.,  con- 
sisting of  several  distinct  arguments  to  which  several  others 
might  be  added)  each,  separately,  leading  to  the  same  conclu- 
sion ;  and  that  their  combined  force  in  establishing  that  conclu- 
sion is  not  only  much  beyond  that  of  each  one  of  them  by  it- 
self, but  beyond  that  of  all  of  them  merely  added  together. 
And  this  is  a  circumstance  which  thoughtless  persons  are  apt 
to  overlook  ;  though  it  may  easily  be  made  clear  to  any  one  of 
ordinary  intelligence.1 

When  there  are  two  or  more  indications  of  truth  in  some 
statement,  and  we  have  formed  some  estimate  of  the  degree  of 
weight  of  each, — i.  e.  the  degree  of  -improbability  of  its  being 
found  in  a  false  statement — these  distinct  improbabilities  are, 
then,  to  be — not  added,  but — multiplied  together,  in  order  to 
estimate  their  combined  force. 

Thus,  if  it  be — suppose — five  to  one  against  the  existence,  in 

1  See  Elements  of  Logic,  bk.  iii.  §§11  and  14. 


396  Evidences  of  Christianity.  [Part  III. 

a  false  history,  of  some  mark  of  truth  that  we  find  in  the  New 
Testament,  and  ten  to  one  against  some  other  such  mark,  then, 
it  is  not  ten,  or  fifteen,  but  fifty  to  one,  against  both  these 
marks  being  found  in  any  thing  false.  So  also,  when  any  one 
attempts  (as  some  Geologists  have  done)  to  explain  as  natural 
occurrences,  the  Scripture  narratives  of  miracles,  saying  that  a 
sick  man  happened  luckily  to  recover  just  at  the  critical  moment 
when  Jesus  spoke  to  him,  &c,  he  should  be  told  to  estimate 
the  chances  against  such  an  accidental  coincidence  in  each  sepa- 
rate instance,  and  then  to  multiply  together  these  chances,  and 
take  the  product  as  the  amount  of  improbability  of  all  the  in- 
stances beino;  the  result  of  chance:  and  he  would  find  them  to 
amount  to  so  many  millions  to  one,  that  every  man  in  his 
senses  would  pronounce  that  the  whole  is  a  moral  impossibil- 
ity. 

Cumulative  proofs  occur  continually  in  Natural  Theology: 
as  when,  for  instance,  we  find  several  distinct  indications  of  de- 
sign, all  tending  to  one  common  end.  Take  as  an  example,  the 
case  of  lactation  in  all  animals  of  the  Class  '  Mammalia  :' 

1.  Milk  is  a  suitable  aliment  for  the  young  offspring  :, 

2.  It  is  secreted  not  by  both  sexes  (though  this  would  have 
been  compatible  with  the  preservation  of  the  Species)  but  by 
the  one  which  bears  the  young: 

3.  It  is  not,  in  most  animals,  constant,  but  is  produced  just 
when  it  is  wanted  : 

4.  The  secretion  is  accelerated  by  the  presence  of  the  young; 
and  is  (in  most  animals)  suppressed  if  the  young  be  altogether 
withdrawn  : 

5.  The  milk  is  obtained  by  suction ;  to  which  the  young  is 
directed  by  instinct : 

6.  The  pressure  of  the  atmosphere  (of  which  the  young 
animal  can  know  nothing)  is  accomodated  to  the  act  of  suc- 
tion : 

7.  It  is  a  relief  and  gratification  to  the  mother  to  be  milked  ; 
and  she  is  directed  by  the  instinct  of  parental  affection — the 
Storge — to  protect  and  cherish  the  young. 

Now  here  are  seven  distinct  provisions,  all  tending  to  one 
object;  and  after  judging  what  are  the  chances  against  each 
one  of  these  being  a  mere  accident,  and  expressing  this  as  a 
Fraction,  we  should  then  multiply  these  together  ;  and  the  pro- 


Chap,  viii.]  Annotations.  397 

duct  will  denote  the  amount  of  improbability  of  all  of  them 
together  being  accidental.1 

This  is  a  rule  which  every  one  is,  to  a  certain  extent,  familiar 
with.  If,  for  instance,  you  saw  a  stone  thrown,  and  striking  a 
certain  object,  you  would  not  thence  conclude  at  once  that  this 
object  was  aimed  at.  The  stone  might  have  been  thrown  at 
random.  But  if  you  saw  a  second,  and  a  third,  and  a  fourth, 
all  strike  the  same  object,  this  would  cause  a  continually  in- 
creasing belief  that  they  were  so  aimed.  And  if  you  saw  a 
hundred  all  strike  the  same  object,  this  would  afford  a  moral 
certainty  that  such  was  the  aim.  For  though  a  stone  thrown 
at  random  must  hit  some  spot,  there  are  many  chances  against 
any  one  spot  rather  than  some  other. 

In  like  manner,  if  there  be  ten  witnesses, — every  one  of 
them — suppose — wholly  unworthy  of  credit, — all  giving  the 
same,  detailed  account  of  some  occurrence,  then  (if  it  be  quite 
certain  that  they  could  have  had  no  concert)  we  should  believe 
them.  The  rational  procedure  would  be,  to  consider,  in  respect 
of  each  of  them,  not  what  are  the  chances  of  his  speaking 
truth,  or  falsehood,  but  what  are  the  chances  against  his  fabri- 
cating that  particular  story  ;  and  then,  by  multiplying  all  these 
together,  to  compute  the  chances  against  all  these  witnesses 
happening  to  hit  on  the  same  fictitious  story.2 

Each  witness's  testimony  is,  in  this  case,  supposed  to  go  for 
nothing,  as  long  as  he  stands  alone :  for  though  the  probability 
of  his  having  fabricated  that  particular  tale  be — suppose  j^, 
there  is  just  an  equal  probability  of  any  other  tale.  But  when 
two  such  witnesses  concur,  the  probability  of  a  cA#nc<?-concur- 
rence  is  only  r^„  ;  and  if  there  are  three  agreeing,  j-^o o?  &c- 

There  is,  however,  much  confusion  of  thought  in  some  minds 
on  this   subject.      In  particular,  it  is   not  uncommon  to  find 

1  See  Lessons  on  Mind,  L.  xviii. 

2  To  invalidate  the  credibility  of  each  single  witness,  or  the  force  of  each  argu- 
ment— taken  separately,  and  then  to  infer  the  same  respecting  all  of  them  collec- 
tively— is  what  logicians  call  The  '  fallacy  of  Composition.' — (See  Elements  of  Logic.) 

'  This,  and  that,  the  other  proof,  is  insufficient : 

All  the  proofs  are  this,  that,  and  the  other  :  therefore 

All  are  insufficient.' 
'  Man  can  subsist  without  animal-food  :  and 
Man  can  subsist  without  vegetable  food  : 

All  food  is  animal  and  vegetable  :  therefore 

Man  can  subsist  without  food.' 


398  Evidences  of  Christianity.  [Part  III. 

men  confounding  together  the  two  questions,— whether  a  cer- 
tain proposition  is  true — and  whether  it  is  proved  by  the  par- 
ticular argument  before  us.  This  blunder  I  have  known  to 
occur  in  a  published  work ;  in  which  it  was  assumed,  that  if 
there  be  some  indication  in  the  style  of  a  certain  book  that  it 
was  written  by  such  and  such  an  author,  and  this  probability 
be  estimated  at  f,  this  implies  that  there  is  a  probability 
amounting  to  f  that  it  was  written  by  some  other  person  : 
though,  of  this,  there  is  not  a  tittle  of  evidence.  It  did  not 
occur  to  the  Writer,  that  if  the  probability  had  amounted,  not 
to  f  but  to  0 — i.  e.,  if  the  reason  had  been  utterly  worthless — 
this  would,  by  his  rule,  establish  the  opposite  conclusion  ! 

It  would  be  a  very  easy  process,  certainly,  though  not  very 
satisfactory,  to  prove  in  this  way,  any  thing  whatever;  by 
merely  advancing  a  worthless  argument  on  the  other  side  ! 

In  reality,  an  argument  that  is  altogether  worthless,  proves 
nothing  at  all  either  way.  And  one  that  goes  to  establish  but 
a  small  degree  of  probability,  is,  of  course,  not,  of  itself,  con- 
vincing :  though  an  accumulation  of  slight  probabilities  may 
even  amount  to  a  moral  certainty.  In  such  a  Galaxy  of 
evidence,  however,  we  cannot  distinguish  the  lustre  <$  each 
particular  star.  And  the  combined  effect  is,  by  some  minds, 
hardly  perceived. 

But  what  tends  to  confuse  some  men's  thoughts  on  this 
point  is,  that  in  some  cases  we  do — reasonably — infer  some- 
thing from  the  bringing  forward  of  weak  arguments,  omd  no 
others,  and  the  producing  exclusively  of  worthless  testimony. 
But  the  inference  is  drawn  not  from  the  arguments  and  the 
witnesses  themselves,  but  from  the  absence  of  others,  when 
there  is  good  reason  to  suppose  that  better  evidence  would 
have  been  produced,  had  any  existed. 

If,  e.  g.,  a  number  of  learned  and  ingenious  scholars  set 
themselves  to  find  objections  to  some  version  of  Scripture,  and, 
after  much  time  and  labor,  bring  forward  merely  the  feeblest 
cavils,  this  affords  a  strong  presumption  that  the  version  is  a 
good  one.  But  this  inference  is  drawn,  not  from  the  objections 
themselves,  but  from  the  probability  that  such  men  would 
have  found  valid  objections  had  it  been  open  to  any. 

So,  also,  when  a  man  of  so  much  acuteness  and  research 
as  Hume   sets  himself  to  find,  in   all  history,  parallels  to  the 


Chap,  viii.]  Annotations.  399 

Scripture-miracles,  and  produced  (as  Paley  has  pointed  out) 
such  only  as  are  quite  different  in  all  the  essential  points,  it  is 
justly  inferred  that  no  parallels  do  exist;  but  this  is  inferred 
not  from  the  instances  Hume  does  adduce,  but  from  our  know- 
ledge of  his  ability  and  learning,  and  anti-christian  zeal ;  which 
render  it  morally  certain  that  if  there  had  been  any  cases  that 
were  really  to  his  purpose,  he  would  have  found  them. 

Now  let  any  one,  not  deficient  in  good  sense,  or  in  candor, 
compare  the  Gospel  history  with  such  tales  as  Hume,  or  any 
others,  have  sought  out  as  parallels  to  it.  The  first  Christians 
were  very  unlike  enthusiasts,  and  still  less  were  the  men  with 
whom  they  had  to  deal  such  as  could  be  won  by  mere  enthu- 
siam.  And  if  we  will  only  allow  the  Christians  to  speak  for 
themselves,  the  Gospel,  and  Acts,  of  Luke  alone,  will  show  us 
that  they  had  very  sound  notions  of  the  sort  of  proof  which 
can  establish  facts,  and  of  the  necessity  of  such  proof.  Twelve 
men  were  the  prime  witnesses  of  the  Resurrection  ;  their  qual- 
ifications, that  they  had  known  Jesus  during  his  whole  public 
life,  and  had  eaten  and  drunk,  and  familiarly  conversed  with 
Him  for  forty  days  after  his  rising  again.  Christianity,  from 
the  first,  at  least  pretended,  and  believed  itself,  to  stand  upon 
the  evidence  of  testimony,  not  on  preconceived  fancies. 

With  these  pretensions  then,  it  arose  in  an  enlightened  and 
skeptical  age,  but  among  a  despised  and  narrow-minded  people. 
It  earned  hatred  and  persecution  at  home  by  its  liberal  genius 
and  opposition  to  the  national  prejudices.  It  earned  contempt 
abroad  by  its  connection  with  the  country  where  it  was  born, 
but  which  sought  to  strangle  it  in  its  birth.  Emerging  from 
Judsea,  it  made  its  way  outward  through  the  most  polished  re- 
gions of  the  world — Asia  Minor,  Egypt,  Greece,  Rome  ;  and  in 
all  it  attracted  notice,  and  provoked  hostility.  Successive  mas- 
sacres, and  attempts  at  extermination,  prosecuted  for  ages  by 
the  whole  force  of  the  Roman  empire,  it  bore  without  resist- 
ance, and  seemed  to  draw  fresh  vigor  from  the  axe ;  but  as- 
saults, in  the  way  of  argument,  from  whatever  quarter,  it  was 
never  ashamed  or  unable  to  repel ;  and,  whether  attacked  or 
not,  it  was  resolutely  aggressive.  In  four  centuries  it  had  per- 
vaded the  civilized  world,  it  had  mounted  the  throne  of  the 
Caesars,  it  had  spread  beyond  the  limits  of  their  sway,  and  had 
made  inroads  upon  barbarian  nations  whom  their  eagles  hadnev- 


400  Evidences  of  Christianity.    [Pt.  III.  Ch.  viii. 

er  visited.  It  had  gathered  all  genius  and  all  learning  into  itself, 
and  made  the  literature  of  the  world  its  own.  It  survived  the 
inundation  of  the  barbarian  tribes,  and  conquered  the  world 
once  more,  by  converting  its  conquerors  to  the  faith.  It  sur- 
vived an  age  of  barbarism.  It  survived  the  restoration  of  let- 
ters. It  survived  an  age  of  free  inquiry  and  skepticism,  and 
has  long  stood  its  ground  in  the  field  of  argument,  and  com- 
manded the  intelligent  assent  of  the  greatest  minds  that  ever 
were.  It  has  been  the  parent  of  civilization,  and  the  nurse  of 
learning ;  and  if  light  and  humanity  and  freedom  be  the  boast 
of  modern  Europe,  it  is  to  Christianity  that  she  owes  them. 
Exhibiting  in  the  life  of  Jesus  a  picture,  varied  and  minute,  of 
the  perfect  human  united  with  the  divine,  in  which  the  mind 
of  man  has  not  been  able  to  find  a  deficiency  or  detect  a  blem- 
ish— a  picture  copied  from  no  model,  and  rivalled  by  no  copy 
— it  has  satisfied  the  moral  wants  of  mankind;  it  has  accomo- 
dated itself  to  every  period  and  every  clime ; — and  it  has  re- 
tained, through  every  change,  a  salient  spring  of  life,  which 
enables  it  to  throw  off  corruption  and  repair  decay,  and  renew 
its  youth,  amid  outward  hostilities  and  inward  divisions.  Yet 
this  religion,  and  all  its  moral  miracles, — this  mighty  rmpulse 
which,  no  time  or  space  can  check  or  exhaust — proceeds,  if  we 
believe  Strauss  and  his  admirers,  from  a  Myth  casually  pro- 
duced in  the  fancies  of  some  Galilean  peasants.  The  moral 
world  of  modern  civilization  has  sprung  from  the  fortuitous 
concourse  of  some  atoms  of  Mythology  in  the  brains  of  unknown 
Somebodies  ! 


INDEX. 


Accounts,  distinction  between  two  kinds  of,  184. 

Analogy,  illustration  of  the  argument  from,  35. 

Anti-Christians,  change  which  has  taken  place  among,  29. 

Apostles,  difficulties  encountered  by  the,  48;  writings  of  the,  61; 
free  from  pecuniary  views  (see  note),  65  ;  evidence  to  the  suffer- 
ings of,  76  ;  incidental  evidence  drawn  from  the  letters  of,  89  ; 
erroneous  opinions  imputed  to,  339  ;  silence  of,  respecting  chris- 
tian miracles,  359. 

Apostolic  history,  general  reality  of  the,  77. 

Austerities,  not  enjoined  by  Christ,  236. 

Barnabas,  Epistle  of,  contrast  to  our  own  Scriptures,  367. 
Beattie,  testimony  of,  to  the  fairness  of  the  Evangelists,  254. 

Catalogues,  formal,  of  the  Scriptures,  171. 

Celsus,  attacks  made  by,  on  the  Scriptures,  166. 

Character,  heroic  and  christian,  differences  between  the,  223. 

Christ,  histories  of,  57  ;  his  pretensions,  by  what  maintained,  81  ;  use 
of  the  word  in  the  Gospels,  110;  spirit  actuating,  237  ;  character 
of,  242;  originality  of  the  character  of,  266. 

Christian,  use  of  the  word  in  the  Gospels,  110. 

Christians,  early,  conclusions  respecting  the,  46  ;  evidence  for  the  vol- 
untary sufferings  of  the,  51  ;  account  of  the  exertions  of  the,  63  ; 
religious  rites  of  the,  identical  with  ours,  93 ;  concurrence  of  the, 
in  the  canon  of  Scripture,  118  ;  Scriptures  appealed  to  by  the,  156  ; 
observation  by  the,  of  the  gospel  rule  of  life,  229  ;  error  imputed 
to  by  the,  340. 

Christianity,  position  assumed  by  the  opponents  of,  2  ;  profession  of,  in 
a  non-natural  sense,  3 ;  propagation  of,  difficulties  likely  to  attend 
the,  39  ;  teachers  of,  difference  between  them  and  philosophers, 

26 


402  INDEX. 

42  ;  primitive  condition  of,  57  ;  inference  that  the  original  story 
of,  was  miraculous,  83  ;  aggregate  authority  of  the  written  eviden- 
ces of,  105;  recapitulation  of  arguments  for  the  truth  of,  177; 
direct  historical  evidence  of,  181  ;  auxiliary  evidences  of,  208  ; 
qualities  in,  241  ;  propagation  of,  considered,  302  ;  propagation  of, 
compared  with  modern  missions,  319  ;  resemblances  and  differen- 
ces between,  and  Mahometanism,  324  ;  connexion  of,  with  the 
Jewish  history,  343  ;  rejection  of,  by  the  Jews  and  heathen,  347  ; 
evidence  to  the  truth  of,  on  what  dependent,  370  ;  supposed  effects 
of,  375 ;  foundation  of,  upon  testimony,  399. 

Civilization,  introduction  of,  how  to  be  accounted  for,  20. 

Clement,  epistle  of,  examined,  122. 

Coincidences,  undesigned,  295. 

Commentaries,  ancient,  152. 

Controversy,  ancient,  topics  of,   156. 

Credulity  and  incredulity  the  same  mental  quality,  34. 

Cumulative  proofs,  nature  of,  395  ;  confusion  respecting,  exemplified, 
397. 

Cyprian,  Bishop  of  Carthage,  his  testimony  examined,  138. 

Death  and  the  Resurrection,  how  to  be  considered,  392. 

Dionysius,  reference  by  him  to  Clement's  epistle,  123  ;  testimony  o£ 

examined,  138. 
Discourses,  our  Lord's,  considered,  231. 

Dispensation,  the  christian,  compared  with  the  order  of  nature,  368. 
Doctors,  Jewish,  expositions  of,  238. 

Enthusiasts,  religious  and  anti-religious,  curious  anomalies  exhibited 

by,  31. 
Epistles,  purpose  of  the,  107. 

Eucharist,  the,  account  of  the  institution  of  the,  253. 
Eusebius,  testimony  of,  examined,  139. 
Evangelists,  the  honesty  of  the,  248 ;  testimonies  to  the  fairness  of  the, 

254  ;  particular  design  of  the,  338. 
Evidence,   miraculous,    illustration    of,    19 ;    the    direct    historical,    of 

Christianity,  37  ;    direct,  of  sufferings    undergone   by    the    early 

Christians,  63  ;  miraculous,  the  foundation  of  the  argument   for 

Christianity,  83. 
Evidences,  christian,  desirability  of  the  study  of,  4. 
Evil,  existence  of,  difficulty  respecting  the,  374. 
Experience,  force  of,  as  an  objection  to  miracles,  14. 


INDEX.  403 

Fathers,  the  apostolic,  silence  of  the,  about  christian  miracles,  362. 
Formularies,  none  drawn  up  by  the  Apostles,  96. 
Frauds,  pious,  190. 

Gospels,  title  of  the,  to  credit,  99 ;  genuineness  of  any  one  of  the,  a 
guarantee  for  the  truth  of  the  religion,  103  ;  parallelisms  in  the, 
conclusion  to  be  drawn  from,  104;  genuineness  of  the,  a  point 
of  importance,  109;  considered  as  compositions,  112;  ancient 
MS.  versions  of  the,  115;  ascription  of  the,  to  their  authors,  118 ; 
distinguished  by  appropriate  names,  147 ;  when  first  publicly 
read,  149;  argument  in  favor  of  the,  from  opponents,  170;  selec- 
tion of  our  present,  not  arbitrary,  173;  reception  of  the,  by  the 
early  Christians,  179;  morality  of  the,  considered,  220;  politics, 
absent  from  the,  239 ;  omission  in,  of  particulars  relating  to 
the  invisible  world,  246 ;  candor  of  the  writers  of  the,  248 ; 
discrepancies  between  the,  336 ;  in  what  the  characteristics  of 
the,  consist,  388. 

Gregory,  Bishop  of  Neocsesarea,  and  others,  testimony  of,  examined, 
138. 

Heathens,  testimony  of,  51. 

Hegesippus,  testimony  of,  examined,  131. 

Heretics,  ancient,  appeals  by,  to  the  Scriptures,  156. 

Hermas,  quotation   from,  74 ;    antiquity  of,  125  ;    read   in  the  early 

churches,  151. 
Histories,  distinction  between  two  kinds  of,  182. 
History,    distinction   between    naked,  and   books,   combined   with    an 

institution,  185  ;  the  gospel,  its  contrast  to  all  so-called  parallels, 

399. 
Hume,  his  view  of  miracles,  15;  his  alleged  parallels  considered,  201; 

reference  to  his  parallels,  398. 

Identification  of  our  Scriptures  with  the  original  story,  85. 

Ignatius,  epistles  of,  126. 

Impossibility,  a  physical,  meaning  attached  to  the  term,  27. 

Improbability  arising  from  want  of  experience,  14. 

Irenseus,  evidence  of,  131. 

Isaiah,  chap,  liii.,  considered,  208. 

Jerusalem,  prophecy  respecting,  217,  219. 
Jesus,  life  assumed  by  the  followers  of,  78. 


404  INDKX. 

Jewish  books,  references  to,  (see  note)  88. 

Jews,  the  treatment  of  their  religion  by  Christ,  237 ;  their  national 
temper,  238 ;  absurd  charges  brought  against,  353. 

John,  St.,  differences  and  agreements  between  him  and  the  other  Evan- 
gelists, 257. 

Josephus,  silence  of,  and  omissions  in,  how  to  be  accounted  for,  86. 

Judea,  feeling  of  the  Roman  government  in,  towards  Christianity,  40. 

Julian,  the  Emperor,  his  attacks  on  the  Scriptures,  169. 

Justin  Martyr,  examination  into  his  writings,  129. 

Knowledge,  christian,  want  of  universality  in,  367. 
Koran,  argument  for  the  genuineness  of  the,  250  ;  sole  reference  in  the, 
to  a  miracle,  325. 

Lardxer,  Dr.,  his  argument  for  the  honesty  of  the  Evangelists,  254. 

Luke,  St.,  chap,  xxi.,  considered,  213. 

Lyons  and  Vienne,  epistle  to  the  churches  of,  131. 

Magnetism,  animal,  207. 

Mahomet,  religion  of,  324. 

Man,  every  civilized,  a  monument  of  a  revelation,  17. 

Martial,  testimony  of,  55 ;  conjectural  emendation  of  a  passage  in,  56. 

Milman,  Dean,  quotation  from,  48. 

Miracles,  argument  for,  probability  of,  12;  a  modern  objection  to, 
considered,  13 ;  as  viewed  by  Hume,  15 ;  annotation  on  his 
statement  with  regard  to,  32 ;  sufferings  voluntarily  undergone 
by  the  witnesses  of  the,  37 ;  tone  in  which  they  are  spoken  of  1>\ 
the  apostles,  61  ;  proof  that  they  were  at  the  outset  admitted  by 
the  Jews,  84;  distinguished  from  false  perceptions,  190;  tenta- 
tive, 193;  doubtful,  195;  alleged,  performed  by  Vespasian,  201  ; 
not  appealed  to  by  early  christian  writers,  359 ;  references  to,  by 
ancient  christian  apologists,  363. 

Morality,  not  a  subject  of  discovery,  221. 

Mortality,  man's,  grounds  for  inferring,  28. 

Mosaic  institution,  assumption  by  Christ  of  its  divine  origin,  345. 

Narrative,  the  christian,  material  parts  of,  preserved,  92 
Nature  and  revelation,  reasons  for  the  study  of,  9. 
Nature,  the  course  of,  in  what  it  consists,  18. 
Neologists,  German,  hypothesis  of  some,  refuted,  110. 


INDEX.  405 

New  Testament,  omissions  in  the,  96;  its  style  and  language,  116; 
apocryphal  books  of  the,  173;  naturalness  of  some  of  the  things 
related  in  the,  254;  mixed  nature  of  the  allusions  in  the,  270; 
writers  of  the,  their  knowledge  of  public  affairs,  290. 

Objection,  a  modern,  to  miracles,  considered,  13;  against  St.  Luke, 

considered,  290. 
Old  Testament,  authority  of,  considered,  343. 
Origen,  testimony  of,  examined,  137. 

Paine,  Tom,  remarks  of,  confuted,  113. 

Paley,  fundamental  error  of,  245  ;    observation   of,  concerning   sleep, 

considered,  395 ;  evidence  adduced  by,  cumulative,  395. 
Parables,  the,  considered,  234. 
Paris,  Abbe,  miracles  alleged  to  have  been  wrought  at  the  tomb  of, 

205. 
Particularity  a  mark  of  truth  in  history,  185. 
Paul,  St.,  history  of,  69. 

Perceptions,  false,  distinguished  from  miracles,  190. 
Persecution,  evil  of,  in  what  it  chiefly  consists,  382 ;  as  practised  by 

votaries  of  Christianity,  383. 
Persecutors,  conscientious,  379. 
Pliny,  the  younger,  epistle  of,  54. 
Polycarp,  epistle  of,  127. 

Porphyry,  attacks  made  by,  on  the  Scriptures,  168. 
Positivists,  doctrine  held  by,  30;  specimen  of  the  style  assumed  by, 

30. 
Possession,  demoniacal,  Paley's  reasoning  respecting,  343. 
Prayer,  the  Lord's,  235. 

Preachers,  early,  of  Christianity,  difficulties  of,  41. 
Predictions,  miraculous,  199. 
Principle,  an  immaterial,  notion  of,  393. 
Prophecy,  208  ;  points  requisite  to  establish  the  claims  of,  217. 

Rationalists,  language  used  by,  200. 

Religion,  the  Jewish,  character  of  the,  39 ;  changes  in,  not  patronized 
by  infidels,  43  ;  considered  an  affair  of  state  by  the  ancient 
heathen,  44  ;  the  christian  influence  of,  considered,  376 ;  order 
to  be  observed  in  inquiries  into,  383. 

Resurrection,  the,  effects  of  spreading  the  story  of  the,  47  ;  the  evan- 
gelists' account  of  the,  249 ;  history  of  the,  298. 


406  INDEX. 

Retz,  Cardinal  de,  alleged  rniracle  related  by,  204. 

Revelation,  in  what  manner  it  must  be  made,  12 ;  the  christian,  alleged 
want  of  clearness  in,  367  ;  probable  consequences  of  overpowering 
evidence  in,  3*71  ;  the  only  question  to  be  asked  respecting,  391. 

Romans,  feelings  entertained  by  the,  on  the  overthrow  of  their  reli- 
gious system,  47. 

Scripture  history,  testimony  of  the,  76. 

Scripture,  confirmed  by  independent  accounts,  269. 

Scriptures,  identification  of  our,  with  the  original  story,  84 ;  authenti- 
city of  the,  115  ;  acknowledged  by  all  parties  in  the  early  churches, 
159  ;  an  early  subject  of  inquiry,  162  ;  the  historical,  attacked  by 
the  early  adversaries  of  Christianity,  166. 

Sects,  the  mythic  and  naturalistic,  3. 

Son  of  Man,  application  of  the  term,  262. 

Southcote,  Joanna,  case  of,  198. 

Stand-point,  the,  of  the  early  Christians,  81. 

Stories,  distinction  between  two  kinds  of,  187  ;  exaggerated,  trans- 
formed into  miracles,  196. 

Story,  the  christian,  principal  part  of,  fixed  from  the  beginning,  93 ; 
arguments  for  the  truth  of,  388.  ^ 

Strauss,  passage  in  his  Leben  Jesu,  referred  to,  268. 

Symbol,  the,  of  our  religion,  how  regarded  by  the  ancient  heathens, 
50. 


Teaching,  Christ's  manner  of,  231. 

Tertullian,  testimony  of,  examined,  135. 

Testimonies,  early,  to  the  titles  given  to  the  Gospels,  147 ;  ancient,  to 
the  public  reading  of  the  Gospels,  149;  heathen,  to  Christ's  char- 
acter, 242. 

Testimony,  points  to  be  attended  to  in  examining,  57  ;  specific,  of  vari- 
ous writers,  examined,  141. 

Theology,  natural,  cumulative  proofs  in,  396. 

Theudas,  reference  to,  292. 

Thoughts,  control  of  the,  as  laid  down  in  the  Gospel,  226. 

Toldoth  Jesrhn,  reference  to  the,  84  ;  passage  in,  considered,  302. 

Toleration,  true  principles  of,  little  understood  by  Pliny  and  others,  43. 

Tradition,  oral  and  written,  correspondency  of,  in  the  time  of  Irenseus, 
133. 

Tree  of  life,  in  what  its  virtue  may  have  consisted,  28. 

Truth,  historical,  particularity  a  mark  of,  1  85. 


INDEX.  407 

Victorin,  testimony  of,  examined,  139. 

Writers,  anti-christian,  their  starting  point,  26  ;  heathen,  testimony 
of,  51  ;  Jewish,  testimony  borne  by,  to  the  scriptural  accounts,  80  ; 
early  christian,  the  Gospels  and  Acts  alluded  to  by,  121 ;  heathen, 
their  silence  respecting  Christianity,  354. 

Writings,  forged  christian,  117  ;  early  apocryphal,  173  ;  prophetic,  390. 


THE    END. 


UNIVERSITY  of  CALIFORNIA 

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